Dancing Among the Stars
by charmedgal005
Summary: The long anticipated sequel to Sam. When a new force comes through killing the people closest to Samantha, can Samantha use the one thing that she has fought against for eight years to save Sydney and Vaughn?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Dancing Among Stars

**Author: **charmedgal005

**Rating: **PG-13

**Summary:** Sequel to _Sam_. When a new force comes through killing the people closest to Samantha, can Samantha use the one thing that she has fought against for eight years to save Sydney and Vaughn?

**Disclaimer:** I sadly am a poor college student. I do not own much at all. Including, Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss, and the rest of the Alias gang. Samantha, Hayden and the other JIP children are my own characters, I do own them.

**Author's Notes:**This is a sequel to my fic, _Sam_. It is not necessary however to read _Sam_ first. I have tried to make this first chapter a lot of review, for those just now climbing on board, and since it has been a long time since Sam. I still recommend reading _Sam_ first though.

**Dedication:** This whole entire story is dedicated to my sis, Biba. She is the main reason that there is even a sequel to Sam. If it weren't for the fact that she challenged me to do this, there wouldn't be one. So I'd like to thank her for that, and dedicate this first chapter and the entire story to her. You rock my socks off Biba.

**Author's Plea: **I need a beta for this fic. I actually need a beta in general, but this is really the only fic I'm working on. So if you'd like to beta for me, drop me a PM or let me know. Please, please, please, please, I really need a beta.

The rain fell heavily on the howling frigid night. In the basement of an old storage building a middle-aged man was cuffed to a cold metal chair. He watched in wide-eyed fear as his captor dragged the dead and bloody body of his friend to the corner of the room. A trail of blood followed the body, still fresh from where she had thrown the knife into his heart. The man, still lucky to be alive, tensed as he expected his own fate to be the same. The door to the basement was bolted shut, and the only other way in was a small window, barely big enough for a child to climb through. And that was only if he could have escaped the chair. It has wisely been bolted to the ground, and it was well made. The only way that he would get out of the chair would be with the key to the handcuffs.

"Eu darei qualquer coisas que você quiser!" I will give you anything you want! He pleaded, the blood flowing freely from his lip where he had been punched just moments earlier.

Samantha Daily stood over him with a bloody knife and a gun, calmly loading it. "Eu não quero nada." I don't want anything. She answered. Her dark brown hair graced her shoulders as she gently bobbed her head. The lighter colored roots formed a ring around her head as if it was a halo. But Samantha was no angel. She had come prepared for blood. The thick black leather covered her from head to toe, allowing no room for fingerprints, no room for blood stains, and most importantly, it allowed for her to slip into the night without being seen.

"Dinheiro! Eu tenho muito dinheiro e meios para conseguir muito, muito mais." Money! I've got lots of money and the resources to get more, lots more.

Samantha was short. "Eu não preciso disso." I don't need any.

"Mas você quer dinheiro?" But do you want some?

"Não." No. Somewhere in the distance, a quiet and slow drip from a leak echoed in the basement, filling the tangible silence. Samantha put the bullet into the chamber. The gun clicked as it further sealed the man's fate. He panicked at the sound.

"Armas! Eu posso conseguir para você armas o suficiente para destruir uma cidade!" Weapons! I can give you enough weapons to level a city!

"Não. A única coisa que eu quero aniquilar é você." No. The only thing I want to destroy here is you.

"Informação! Eu posso conseguir qualquer coisa que você queira! Qualquer coisa que você precise! Por favor! Eu tenho uma esposa! E uma filha de três anos! Minha mãe está morrendo! Por favor!" Intel! I can give you anything you want! Anything you need! Please! I have a wife! I have a three year old daughter! My mother is dying! Please!

Samantha grabbed the man's hair. "Seu parceiro foi mais esperto que você ao não implorar pela vida e ele teve uma morta silenciosa e calma. Você gostaria que eu mudasse isso?" Your partner was smart enough not to beg and he went in silence and peace. Would you like me to change that for you? The man fearfully shook his head. "Além do mais, isso não é exatamente uma atitude de um cavalheiro." Besides, it's not like a gentleman to beg.

A large wind came from outside causing the small window to open and close with a bang and ring in the cement room. The gust brought with it the cool sting of the rain and a chill through Samantha's spine. Samantha whipped her head towards the window as she heard metal pipes bob around. Cautiously she crossed her feet as she walked towards the window with her gun at the ready. She paused in the silence, carefully listening for any whisper of a noise and keeping her eyes open for any shadow. Satisfied that there was nothing there, Samantha walked over to the window and shut it tight again, this time double checking the lock.

The man was overcome with fear as Samantha walked towards him, stopping just five small paces away. "Por favor! Não me mate! Eu não sabia o que eu estava fazendo! Eu tinha ordens para cumprir!"" Please! Don't kill me! I didn't know what I was doing! I had orders.

"Assim como eu." So do I.

Samantha carefully aimed.

Two shots rang out.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Sydney straightened her papers and stood up. Vaughn stood behind her, his serious and worried face mirroring his wife's. "You have her transportation all arranged?" Sydney asked.

"She'll be here in a few hours." Vaughn paused. "You know, she won't like this."

"No. But it has to be done. Is she still stable?"

Vaughn nodded, "But they had to put her into a medically induced coma for the transportation. She doesn't know that she's being transferred yet. They'll begin waking her after she gets here."

"Is Kendall ready for us?" Sydney nodded.

Vaughn put his arm around Sydney. "Are you ready?" Sydney gave a weak smile. It was strong enough to fool everyone else, but it didn't fool her husband. He saw right through her mask and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "She's strong, she'll pull through."

"I know, but it doesn't stop me from worrying."

The rest of the people had already assembled in the room when the two entered. Kendall started the meeting before Sydney and Vaughn had even sat down. Three pictures of Samantha were on every computer screen, and Sydney couldn't help but remember the last time she had seen her. The first was an old picture; Samantha was only three. Her hair was in pigtails swinging as high as she could, smiling up at the photographer, trying to show off every tooth she had. The second was the last one Sydney had seen of her, almost eight years before. Samantha was sitting on a couch, just sitting and looking around. Sydney could even remember that one being taken. Vaughn had taken a whole roll of candid shots, much to the anger of both Sydney and Samantha. The third showed a much colder Samantha. She had died her hair dark and she no longer had the carefree look that the first shot had, or the thoughtfulness of the second. Instead what Sydney saw was a cold Samantha, one that had lived her entire life full of pain, lies and deceit.

Kendall started talking. "Samantha Daily." He explained motioning to the pictures. "Twenty five years ago she was the victim of the JIP, Jordan Injection Process. Headed by Irina Derveko, they took young children and injected them with intelligence data to be retrieved when they turned 18. Samantha was in our protective care, not as a prisoner, but as someone we were protecting, when she turned eighteen."

Kendall nodded over to Vaughn and Sydney. Vaughn stood up. "Since then, we have kept tabs on the other JIP children. While over 100 children were given the injection, only 8 lived to be 10, 5 have lived long enough to have their information extracted, and currently only 4 of them are left." Vaughn explained. "Sydney and I have been keeping close tabs on them. Jed Kushner, Jordan Andrews, and Beth Bujack all reside within CIA safe houses. The fourth, Caleb Mankew joined the CIA and works out of Langley." Vaughn changed Samantha's picture to those of the four other JIP recipients, all of which were no longer children.

Sydney took over. "Since the CIA's discovery of the JIP they've formed a new division focused solely on tracking the JIP children and acting upon the information we were able to get from the JIP. Agent Vaughn and I head this division. While we are aware that none of the people affected by the JIP are children anymore, it sets them apart from the doctors. They were, after all, children when they were injected by Dr. Jordan. The information that each carries is highly sensitive. Weapons specs, vaults of intelligence, the location of some 15 previously unknown Rambaldi artifacts, and in the case of Samantha, an entire operations handbook."

"Samantha and the JIP were first brought to our attention when Julian Sark attempted to apprehend Samantha at her high school. This is what is now known as the Hillside Shooting. She was living with Vicktor and Abigail Derveko, the brother and sister-in-law of Irina Derevko. They were living under the aliases Jeffery and Karen Daily. After an attempted murder on Samantha, Abigail and Vicktor were taken into CIA custody. They are still in the Nevada detention facility. Samantha was brought into the CIA for mental therapy and some basic training until her 18th birthday and she was living here in LA with CIA agents." As much as Vaughn and Sydney wanted to admit that they were the ones that Samantha was living with they weren't allowed to and they understood why. "After her 18th birthday we also discovered that Samantha was programmed to protect her information. This has led her to react irrationally and there were times when she would not know what she was doing. This programming is likely to still be in effect.

"Samantha however is no longer in our custody. Just after turning 18, Samantha ran away with a request not to follow her." Vaughn continued. "For security reasons we could not follow that request and over the past eight years we've been following her. For the past four years Sam has been living in São Paulo, Brazil."

Vaughn changed the picture again, this time to a young man exiting a building. "This is Christopher Henriques. His exact relationship to Samantha is unclear. They have been spotted numerous times together and over the past year or so they have been inseparable. We are assuming he's her boyfriend. He was murdered two weeks ago by members of the Andadores da Noites, a small Brazilian rebel group."

"ADN." Sydney abbreviated.

Vaughn continued. "The Andadores da Noites are relatively new to our radar. They've mostly dealt with small arms deals and larger drug deals, but lately we've seen them getting more involved larger weapons and some intelligence. Samantha took it into her own hands, kidnapping the murderers and killing one of them. She was able to shoot the second before another ADN operative gained entry to the room and shot Samantha. He left both his own operative and Samantha for dead. She is currently listed in stable condition and we are flying her back to LA for more thorough treatment."

"What we need to do is find out more about this Henriques guy, and figure out why he was murdered by the ADNs. Umber, Mathews and Josiah, I want you three to take care of finding out more about the ADNs and what Henriques was murdered for. Weiss and Oberhoffer, I'm sending you two to São Paulo. Cover up whatever tracks were made for the murders and clear out Samantha's house. She was listed as Roberta Napier." Sydney instructed.

The others in the debrief room nodded and left. Kendall, Sydney and Vaughn were the only three left in the room. "Samantha will be landing at the airfield at 7:40." Kendall explained. "She'll be immediately transported from there to the hospital."

"Is there anything new in the investigation on the Andadores da Noite operative that shot Sam?" Sydney asked.

Kendall sadly shook his head. "No."

"And why aren't we performing our own investigation?"

"We don't have the spare resources right now. I'm already offering three extra agents to your team. There are no extra agents for you to perform an investigation with. Samantha and the Andadores da Noite are not highest on our priority list. And quite frankly, I don't know why I'm giving you two the resources."

"We'll do it on our own." Sydney suggested.

"Need I remind you Sydney that you have been on desk duty now for four years? You are not cleared for an investigation. And this was at your request as well. And Vaughn can't do it alone. And your whole team has just been tasked. If you two will excuse me, I have to go see how the search for the plasma bomb is going." Kendall marched out of the debrief room.

"I hate it when he is right." Vaughn said, putting his arms around Sydney. "I'll pull up whatever I can about the investigation for you later."

"Thanks. Do you mind picking up Hayden? I would like to stay here until Sam gets in. I'm going to be home late."

Vaughn checked his watch. "I'll have to leave really soon, but I'll do that."

"Before you leave we need a couple things from the store. I'll make you a list." Vaughn and Sydney stood up and returned to his desk. As Vaughn was getting ready to pick up Hayden and go home, Sydney wrote a short grocery list for her husband.

"Give Sam my best when you see her tonight." Vaughn asked his wife.

"She won't be conscious."

"They say people in comas can hear the voices of loved ones. Besides I know you'll be talking to her anyway. It has been seven years; you two have much to talk about."

"I'd be the one doing all the talking."

"Just send her my love and tell her that I want her to get better. I'll stop by the hospital tomorrow before work to see her."

"I can do that."

"Alright, I've got to take off."

"See you at home."

"Bye honey." Vaughn said.

"Bye." Sydney sat down at her desk, and started working again, only putting half of her effort into it. The other half was with Samantha in the hospital.

"Sydney," Agent Peter Josiah said, approaching Sydney's desk, "I need access to Samantha's file. The one with all of her past aliases and where she has been."

"I can't help you there. It is in the computer. Try either Samantha Daily or Samantha White. She's the one JIP child that I cannot answer current questions about."

"Why? Weiss said that you wouldn't necessarily be the one to ask, but Vaughn has gone home for the night."

Sydney sighed; the truth had to come out. "One of her last requests to me was not to follow her as she ran. For security reasons and such we couldn't do it, but I made sure that I stayed out of where she was as much as possible. I followed the other JIP children more carefully and handed Samantha over to Michael."

Oberhoffer nodded. "I understand. My sister tried running away when she was eight, but I knew where she was running to and I pretended not to know where she was for her sake, but I knew that she had pitched a small tent in some woods behind our house. When the time came I went and got her."

Sydney was about to open her mouth to speak when her phone rang. She rolled her eyes, annoyed at the timing of whoever was on the other side of the phone, before leaning over to pick it up. "If you have any problems with her file, come find me." Sydney instructed to Oberhoffer before picking up the phone. He nodded and left. "Agent Bristow-Vaughn." Sydney answered.

"Sydney." Weiss's voice came through.

"Hey Weiss."

"I got some bad news. Echelon just picked up on some hints that the ADN has set up a hit for Beth Bujack's husband."

Sydney sat down in her chair, trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. "You mean they're targeting JIP children?"

"I'd actually say they're targeting their families."

"Can you bring me what you guys picked up?"

"Yeah, I'll run it by your desk in a few minutes."

"Thanks Weiss." Sydney hung up, and quickly pulled up Beth Bujack's file. She was living under the very watchful eye of the CIA. For the past 7 years Beth had never been alone; there were always CIA personnel watching her from the street, through video cameras, behind her in line at the grocery market. The same was true of all the JIP children. Beth and Mark had been married less than a year and aside from the fact that they had two fully trained CIA agents following them and watching their every move and the moves of everyone they come in contact with, they were able to live perfectly normal lives.

Sydney remembered the last time she had visited Beth and Mark. Part of Sydney's job was to visit the JIP children and make sure that they were doing alright mostly. As life got easier and the children had adjusted more their little visits had become more social visits than work related. The last time Sydney visited the newlyweds was just over a month before and they had shared a bottle of champagne. An entire year had gone by without a single threat on Beth's life. They had toasted to another threat-free year. As they took their sips Sydney could tell they were all thinking the same thing. It was only the calm before the storm.

Sydney jumped when Weiss approached her. "Echelon picked this up just 45 minutes ago. It took a while for it to be processed." He admitted. "We gotta get those guys to be faster."

Sydney scanned the paper. "An email?"

"Yes. Between someone from the ADN and to an unknown marksmen."

"Have they set a date for the hit yet?"

"Not that we know of. Just that they've hired a guy to do it."

"How do we know its ADN?"

"We don't have a lot on the ADN, but what we do know is that Simon Stoppa is somewhere up on the chain."

"Stoppa, where have I heard that name before?"

"He was part of the former Alliance"

"And now he's working for ADN? Seems like a step down."

"ADN is now getting international attention with them dragging Sam and the JIP children into it."

Sydney began to bark orders at Weiss, but he was ten steps ahead of her. "We have already fed Stoppa's name into interpol and there are warrants for his arrest in 10 countries. Unfortunately, Brazil is not one of them."

"Fix that."

"Already on it."

After reading over the email again, Sydney picked up the phone. She spent several minutes arguing with Beth and Mark about why they had to leave before she finally was able to convince them to start packing. She then had to dial Beth and Mark's details in New York to help them. "You need to get Beth and Mark out of New York as soon as you can get into their house." She told him.

"Where should I take them?"

"It doesn't matter. Get them to Chicago or Washington. Stick to the big cities where there is a CIA branch nearby. And get out of New York. I also need you to run emergency plan 721 B. There should be new passports and driver's licenses and enough cash for three weeks at that location."

"Alright."

"And do it now."

Sydney read over the email one more time and shook her head in frustration, fear, and stress. She then picked up the phone and put Jed Kushner, Jordan Andrews, and Caleb Mankew under alert, hoping that they wouldn't have to take off and hide like Beth and Mark did. They were both unmarried and neither had a serious girlfriend.

"Have we received any threats on Jed, Jordan or Caleb?"

Weiss shook his head. "This is the first one we've seen. I'll have someone look into old communications and see if I see one on Sam or her boyfriend. I've got to leave for São Paulo in a little bit. "

Sydney nodded. "Weiss, tell me something." Sydney said as she looked over the communication for the umpteenth time.

"What?"

"Why the husband? Why Sam's boyfriend? If they are JIP hunting, why not go after the JIP children?"

Weiss sat on the corner of Sydney's desk as he thought. "There could be any number of reasons. What about just a threat? To bring them in so they can pick their brains."

"That doesn't make sense. Why would they kill them? Why not just threaten them? Beth and Sam would be much more cooperative if it was a threat and Mark and Henriques would be returned to them. I know that Sam would feel like she had nothing to lose and come after them with a vengeance like she did."

"It could be persuasion to join. The regular 'join us or we'll kill him.'"

"No. Again, why actually kill them rather than kidnap them? The ADN's can't win the humanitarian of the year award, but they've remained off our radar for so long that they can't be that brutal yet. Plus, we would have gotten more communication than just this mark. Besides, most JIP children have no training and. although they hold military secrets in their heads, they really don't have any special skills unless they are provoked."

For Weiss, the whole thing suddenly clicked. "Syd, what would happen if someone came after your family?"

"I would come after them. Make sure to set an example of whoever it is. No one threatens Vaughn or Hayden and gets away with it. Why?"

"You and Sam are a lot like each other right? Both stubborn? Both hard set on your ways? Both protective of everyone you love?"

"I'd say so." And then Sydney understood. "They're trying to unleash the programming."

"It worked for Sam."

"That's why she killed those men. She felt threatened and she went into her programming and didn't know what she was doing."

"Wouldn't hold up in a court room, but for here, at the CIA, its a pretty good theory."

"Weiss, I want you to do some extra research while you're in São Paulo. I need as much stuff as you can get me on the ADNs. I want to know why they're JIP hunting. I want to know what kind of information would be valuable to them." Sydney instructed. "And I want to know why they want to waken the programming!"

Weiss understood and began to walk away. Just a few paces away from Sydney's desk Weiss stopped and turned around, "Syd, we'll do our best to protect Sam."

"Thanks. And can you do me a favor Weiss?"

"Yeah sure."

"If Sam still collected pigs in São Paulo, could you do me a favor and bring some of them back? I know how much she missed her collection when she moved here."

Weiss gave a smile. "You know what Bristow, you've turned soft." Sydney smiled for the first time since she found out about Sam.


	2. Chapter 2

As Sydney flipped through pages and pages of information that Umber, Mathews and Josiah had dropped on her desk a few minutes before she sighed, the words blurring in front of her. They gave her a brief run through on what they were handing her, but they were all called away when Echelon picked up two hot words, "murder" and "Mark." The name ADN wasn't even used, so Sydney had little hope that it was actually for her or the team. But Kendall had sent her the greenest, youngest, and most inexperienced agents he possibly could find, and they went running at the drop of a pin. "There wasn't even a last name attached." Sydney mumbled as she was looking at past ADN transmissions. She blinked again, hoping to clear the words up, but the attempt failed. Sydney finally gave up, shut the folder, and grabbed her mug to get some more coffee.

"How is the search going?" Dr. Barnett said, approaching Sydney by the coffee machine.

Sydney sighed. "Between trying to protect all the JIP children, investigating Sam's case from here, and tracking down the ADNs and their motives, I'd say its going all right. Kendall just sent me the greenest agents he could find, and they went chasing a very weak lead." Sydney admitted. "You're here kinda late."

"Yes, well it sometimes comes with the territory." Barnett admitted. Sydney agreed. "I have been meaning to come down to your desk actually. I need to ask a favor from you."

"Anything." Sydney nodded.

"I know that Samantha is returning to LA, I feel that it is important that she continues to see me."

Sydney held up her hand and stopped Barnett. "Before you go any farther, I have no rights to force Samantha to do anything anymore. She is not under my care. Besides, we brought her here for treatment, I don't even know if she'll stay."

"I know, but I have a feeling that she'll still listen to you. Unless major things have changed in seven years, and judging from her latest shenanigan I don't believe they have, Samantha, like all the other JIP children needs some therapy. Just give it a try."

Sydney sighed. "She's already not going to be pleased with the fact that we were following her. I won't promise anything."

"Thank you. And let her know that I can still make her see me if she declines." Barnett said with a smile, before leaving Sydney alone next to the now hot coffee maker. Sydney poured herself the rest of the coffee, and went back to her desk. She glanced up at the clock. 7:25. She tapped her leg a little bit impatiently. There was still 15 minutes before Samantha's plane was scheduled to land. 7:25. Vaughn and Hayden would have just been finishing up dinner. There was still time before bath time. If she was going to talk to Hayden before bed, now was her chance. She picked up the phone and quickly called home.

It rang twice before Vaughn picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey honey." Sydney said. She pushed her papers around and made room on her desk for her elbows.

"Hey. How's is it going?"

"The ADNs put a hit on Mark. He and Beth went into hiding. I am still waiting to hear back on where they went, and what all they took. Someone should be hearing something from them soon. But I want them close to some CIA headquarters, preferably out of the country. I don't know where they are yet. Jeb and Jordan have been put on high alert. Their guards are preparing to leave the second we get any further word. Caleb was called. He's going to take a couple nights at a safe house. I don't know how long he'll stay, but Caleb is the least of my worries, he's too well trained, and too close to the heart of the CIA for the ADN to try anything."

"I'll make some calls to São Paulo once Hayden is asleep. I'll try to figure out what's going on in the investigation there.

"Weiss and Oberhoffer are leaving in an hour to go cover up Sam's tracks and to pick up the pieces and such. Anything you can find out, and any assets you come in contact with, I can pass that information onto them. They cannot find out that Samantha was the one. All evidence has to be wiped away."

"I know, Syd. When does Samantha come in?"

"Soon. Maybe 10 minutes. I'm just going to meet her at the hospital. I won't stay long."

"Don't worry about me and Hayden. We'll be fine. You take your time."

"I want to get home anyway. I just need to see how Sam is doing before then." Sydney could hear Hayden banging around on toys in the background, and she smiled picturing the sight in her head. "Could you put Hayden on? I want to talk to her before she goes to bed."

"Yeah, sure thing." Sydney could hear Vaughn over the phone, and Hayden's little feet come running to the phone at the thought of talking to Mommy.

"Mommy?" She said. Hayden's voice was weak, a little unsure that she was actually going to be talking to her mother on the other side.

"Hey Sweetie!"

Sydney could tell that at the sound of her mother's voice, the young girl perked up. "Mommy!" She nearly yelled.

A smile crept across Sydney's lips at her daughter's enthusiasm to talk to her. "Yes Sweetie, I'm here."

"Where are you?"

"I'm still at work. I had more work to do today than most days."

"Why?"

"Grown-up reasons. Something really big happened, and Mommy had a lot to do today. Tell me, what did you do today? Did you have fun with Wendy and Adam and Jaxon?"

"I played with Adam all day because Jaxon wasn't there.. And we went to the park, and played on the swings. Wendy pushed me so high that I, that I almost touched the sky. She's teaching me how to push myself, but it's still hard because my feet don't touch the ground. But she promised me that when I'm bigger I'll be able to swing all by myself. And there was this puppy there. He was really pretty. And Adam and I got to play with the puppy. I forget her name. Daddy and I went to the store, and we got ice cream."

"Oh that sounds very yummy. Are you being a good girl for Daddy?" Sydney nodded in acknowledgment at a passing agent, who just smiled as they over heard Sydney talking on the phone. It was common knowledge that Sydney and Vaughn were married, and after years of attempts, the CIA stopped forcing them to keep their marriage away from common knowledge. And the fact that Sydney was rarely at her desk after five, made the phone calls home even more of an event to watch. Rarely did any agent, except for close friends, see Sydney or Vaughn interact with their daughter. It was a parent's vain attempt to shelter her from their work, and their double lives that even they wish they could be sheltered from.

"Yep."

"Good girl. I'm not going to be home before you go to bed."

Sydney could hear the sadness in the young girl's voice. "Why not?"

"We went over this already. I have to do some more work. But the second I get home, I'll go to your room and give you a kiss, ok?"

Hayden nodded, although Sydney couldn't see it. All she heard was Vaughn telling Hayden to say ok rather than just nodding, and then a very weak "Ok."

"Good. I want you to sleep tight. Blow me a kiss." Sydney heard a kissing noise on the other end. "I didn't catch it. Blow another one." There was a bigger sound, and Sydney smiled. "I love you Hayden."

"I love you too Mommy."

"Can you put Daddy back on the phone again?" There was a rustling as the phone was put onto the floor and then picked up again.

"Syd?" Vaughn checked.

"Yes."

"Why Mark? Why did the ADNs target Mark this time and not Beth?"

"They're trying to undo the programming. What I can't figure out is what they want out of the programming."

"It doesn't make sense. They have always been mostly drug traffickers. Even now, 90 of their operation revolves around the drug trade and the drug business."

"But they're starting to break into weapons and intelligence." Sydney glanced up at her clock. "Honey, I got to go. If I'm going to meet Sam at the hospital."

"I understand. I love you. I'll see you when you get home."

"I love you too." Sydney hung up the phone, and stood up. She grabbed her purse and keys and turned off her computer. She was almost out of the building when someone calling out her name caused her to turn around. She saw Josiah chasing after her.

"Sydney, we just got word that the pickup wasn't from the ADNs, nor was it about Beth Bujack or Mark Bujack."

"That's what I expected. Now, why don't you, Umber and Mathews head home? It's almost eight. You guys have been working non-stop since this afternoon. You guys didn't even take a break for dinner."

"We expanded the Echelon pick-up to respond to instead of just the phrase Jordan Injection Process, instead using JIP. I also added the phrase JIP children and I added Beth's last name, Bujack and New York, because that's where they were living." Josiah said, ignoring Sydney's suggestions that he go home.

"Those are pretty wide parameters." Sydney sighed.

Josiah nodded enthusiastically, trying to continue to make his point as he heard what his boss was saying. "They weren't included in the search bank originally."

"Alright. Thanks for adding them. Now, I really mean it when I say go home. We're done for the day. There is nothing more you can do. If some emergency comes up, someone will call you. Go home. Eat some dinner." Sydney instructed.

Josiah nodded. "Alright, alright. I get the hint. I'll go home. See you tomorrow?"

Sydney nodded. "See you tomorrow." Sydney walked towards the elevator quickly, before someone else could spot her and call her back to her desk. Relief radiated with every step of the way. She was happy to finally be leaving work. She had been at work pretty much since dropping Hayden off at the babysitters. She and Vaughn grabbed a quick lunch, and she had Weiss make a dinner run for her. Most of Sydney's day had been spent hunched over her desk, working with the Brazilian intelligence, or with the Brazilian police, or arguing over how many extra agents they could afford to send her. Not Sydney's ideal day.

Ever since Hayden was born, Sydney had cut back her hours. She was always arriving late because she dropped Hayden off at the babysitters, and was always leaving early to pick Hayden up from the babysitters. And she only had trips once every two months when she'd visit the JIP children. And even then, Sydney made sure that she was never gone for more than three days out of the whole month. Leaving work always felt good to Sydney. A long day like today was rare for this new Sydney, and she was very happy to be leaving the noisy, busy, gray and windowless world of the JTF and head outside, even if it was a hospital she was going to.

Rush hour traffic was coming to a slow and steady crawl, much slower than normal rush hour traffic, and even slower than what Sydney was accustomed to driving in. Sydney impatiently tapped the top of her steering wheel. Normally, Sydney prided herself in being a patient person. But she was very excited to see Samantha again. Even though she knew that Samantha was asleep, and in the hospital, it made little difference. Samantha was going to be ok, and that meant that the two would have a chance to catch up. It had been seven years since Sydney had seen Samantha last. It was Samantha's high school graduation. She left them in the parking lot of the arena where graduation was held, and only a note at home told them that she was gone. Sydney saw the CIA helicopter land on the roof of the naval hospital as she turned into the parking lot. For the first time in seven years, Samantha was on American soil, and she was going to hate Sydney for it.

The nurse had Sydney wait outside Samantha's door, while the doctors situated her. She watched with her arms crossed through the glass. There was one doctor and two nurses hooking Samantha up to various machines. She was pale, and the bandages around her chest had started to bleed through somewhere during the flight. The doctor went about changing the dressing, and through the window one of the nurses smiled sympathetically towards Sydney. After several minutes without another glance in Sydney's general direction, the doctor came out and began making his way towards the desk. The nurses were still working with Samantha in the room, and Sydney turned her eyes away to stop the doctor. "Excuse me, can you tell me how she is? Can I go in and see her?"

"What's your name?"

"Sydney Bristow."

"Are you family?" He asked, checking the chart for a list of visitors.

Sydney wanted to laugh. Family had always been a term that was fuzzy to her. That was aside from her father, Vaughn and Hayden. Instead she decided to make it simple for the doctor. "I'm her cousin. Which ultimately doesn't matter." Sydney pulled out her CIA badge and showed the doctor. "I have full access to Samantha and her charts."

"I'm sorry." The doctor said, closing the chart. Sympathy wasn't something he was willing to give. "Immediate family only. Hospital policy, except during visitor hours. Which were over an hour ago. You can come back tomorrow morning at ten."

"But the badge?"

"Not today. She is still in a critical condition. Any other day."

"I really am her cousin. Please?"

The doctor looked at Sydney, he was slowly gaining sympathy for her. "I am new. I really can't bend hospital policy right now."

"I really am all the family she has left. Please? At least tell me how she's doing. How is Sam?" Sydney looked once again towards Samantha. The nurses were finishing up, and were making Samantha more comfortable in the bed. They chatted to each other, about this and that, but none of it had to with the patient they were tucking in. The doctor looked at Sydney and nodded.

"She's going to pull through. For transport she was put into an induced coma. We will start to wake her up tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, her wound opened up and is bleeding again. It is nothing serious, but we may need to go back into surgery if there is anymore internal bleeding. But your cousin is very lucky. She's going to pull through just fine."

Sydney didn't even realize she was holding her breath. But after hearing a doctor say that Samantha was going to be alright, she let it go in a large sigh of relief. "Well, can I go see her?"

The doctor was torn. But he saw Sydney watching Samantha so carefully, and he, too, peered into the room. He sighed heavily before giving Sydney permission. "Yes." Sydney pushed open the door, and slowly walked towards Samantha. As she walked, Sydney tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. She sat down in the chair next to Samantha.

The nurse looked puzzled at the sight of Sydney sitting next to Samantha after visiting hours. She quietly walked over to the doctor, and the two exchanged words.

"I'm Nurse Bethany. I'll be just outside if you need anything." One of the nurses said as they stood by the door. "I'm the one on duty tonight."

"Thank you." Sydney said.

Once the door was shut, she took Samantha's frail hand. "Hey Sam. It's me, Sydney. Welcome back to LA. Don't hate me for it. We did it for your own good. Michael also wishes you the best. Everyone at the JTF does. We want you to get better quickly. Before you know it, you'll be up and dancing the night away again." She didn't know exactly what else to say. "I'm going to be here for a while." She reassured Samantha. She gave Samantha's hand a tight squeeze before leaning back in her chair. The room was almost silent except of the steady rhythms of the machines. She sat next to Samantha for a while, watching Samantha slowly breathe and the doctors going back and forth in the hallway.

After glancing at her watch, Sydney realized how late it was getting. Even though her husband told her to take her time, Sydney knew that her time at the hospital was up, and she needed to go. "I'll see you in the morning." Sydney said, squeezing Samantha's hand once more before standing up.

Sydney found Nurse Bethany sitting at the desk working on patient charts. Sydney silently approached the desk, and when she cleared her throat, Nurse Bethany jumped slightly. She looked up at the weary Sydney prompting her talk. "If anything happens to Samantha White," Sydney motioned towards Samantha's door, "either good or bad, can you please call me? I don't think I'm listed as her contact, but I should be." Sydney asked. The nurse agreed, and took down Sydney's information. She paused for a second as she passed Samantha's door before leaving the hospital.

The drive home was much faster, as many of the streets had emptied out. However, Sydney still felt like the drive was taking a long time. She had never really realized how far the hospital was from their house. The clock was turning towards a quarter of eleven when Sydney pulled into the driveway. She dropped her purse on the table next to the door, and went in search of her husband.

Vaughn was sitting at the dining room table, phone to ear, and papers scattered across the hard wood table when Sydney came home. She picked up one of Hayden's rubber balls, and a Big Bird doll as she made her way to her husband. She sat down in the chair next to him, and put the ball and doll on the table. She leaned over and kissed her husband when he had a couple spare seconds, before he went back to his phone call. He went off in French, and Sydney glanced at the work in front of him. She then stood up, grabbed the toys once more, and went down the hall to her daughter's bedroom.

Sydney smiled at the sleeping girl in her room. She quietly tossed the toys into a toy box, and picked up two more as she made her way to the head of the bed. Hayden didn't move as Sydney knelt at her bedside, brushing away the brunette bangs from the small forehead. She kissed her daughter's forehead. The girl continued to slumber.

She could still hear Vaughn on the phone, so she picked up Hayden's dirty clothes off of the floor, and went into the laundry room, to start a load of laundry. She was pleased to see that Vaughn had taken care of much of the laundry that Sydney hadn't had a chance to do over the past week.

By the time that Sydney got back to the dining room, Vaughn was off the phone and making notes on a chart full of numbers.

"Hi." He said, giving another welcome home kiss to Sydney.

"Hey."

"How's Sam?" He asked, looking up at his wife's presence.

"She's alright. The doctor said that she might have to go back into surgery. They think that she might still be bleeding internally. They'll start waking her tomorrow morning. Did you find anything?"

"I argued with São Paulo, but they're staying tight lipped about their investigation until an official statement is out. I don't think that they have a suspect yet, and even if they did they wouldn't be able to place Sam's name on the murders. So it could be a while before they put out an official statement."

"What about Beth and Mark? I had them call here when they were relocated."

"I talked to them a while ago. Beth and Mark are in Chicago for the time being. I'm working with the French to send them to Paris, but they're not cooperating because they can't take the risk of taking in someone with the potential to bring in more terrorists."

"What about Berlin?"

"They can't spare an extra agent right now to keep half an eye on them, let alone a team if something goes wrong."

"Can you at least try?"

Vaughn gave a half smile and sighed. "An hour ago."

Sydney sank into a seat next to her husband. "Bringing them here would be too risky. It would be like sitting ducks."

"Langley agreed with you, and requested that we get the Bujacks out of the country, for both their safety and national safety. But after talking with Paris, Berlin and Rome, I'm thinking they might be safest right here in our own backyard. We can afford the teams if they are close to us." Vaughn said. "I have been reviewing ADN activity and trying to figure out a large city where Beth and Mark could blend in well and where the ADN is not active. That was my original goal. I'll settle for less active at this point. The only problem is that over the past couple years, their network had really expanded right under our eyes and no one's noticed that they have powerful friends in hot spots like Egypt and North Korea.

"I bet it's hard with their extensive drug trafficking." Sydney glanced at the charts. She sat quietly for several minutes, comparing a list of cities with a list of ADN actions. Even though Vaughn had seen what Sydney was looking at for more than a hour, he reviewed it again, hoping to find another city he hadn't thought of. "Have you tried Moscow?"

"Next on my list."

"It has minimal ADN activity."

"But Mark doesn't speak Russian, and Beth's Russian is bad at best. That, and your Russian is better than mine."

Sydney nodded, and put down the papers. "Let's do it tomorrow. It's late here, it's early there. I'll call tomorrow morning and catch them after dinner. Let's go to bed before your daughter comes bouncing onto our room in the morning."

"So she's only my daughter now?"

"Only in the mornings." Sydney joked. "You're the morning person."

Vaughn chuckled and put all of the papers into a tidy stack and put the stack into his briefcase. "She crashed after her bath today. So I'm guessing she'll be up early for us." Sydney yawned slightly and put her arm around her now standing husband.

"Sam should stay with us again once she gets better." She decided.

Vaughn looked around the downstairs. The house was a good size, but not big enough for three adults and a little toddler to live comfortably without someone tripping over someone. And by the only virtue of being short and having a habit of being underfoot, Hayden likely would be the one that would be tripped over the most. There were three bedrooms, and one of them, the smallest, was mostly used as the office. The couch could never be used as a pull out bed, as Hayden liked to stuff her toys, and unwanted food between the couch cushions. Vaughn wouldn't even put his best friend, Weiss through the pain of sleeping on their couch.

But he liked it when Samantha lived with them. He remembered how close she and Sydney got, and felt like he would be turning away something important to Sydney. Vaughn also had to remind himself that they really didn't use the office much, choosing instead to spread out on the dining room table after Hayden had gone to bed. "Why not? We'll turn the office into her bedroom if she'd let us."

"Good. I just don't want to put her into a safe house right now. Especially not after someone killed her boyfriend, and her programming has been awoken."

"I'll stop by her room tomorrow before work." Vaughn volunteered. "Just to check on her, and see what happened overnight, and when the doctors will wake her up."

"As soon as I drop Hayden off at Wanda's, I'll stop by for a little bit. And then I'll call Russia for Beth and Mark. Honey, do you think you could drop off the dry cleaning on your way to work?"

Vaughn looked around for the normal pile of clothing to go to the dry cleaners. "Where is it?"

"In the laundry room. I saw that you did laundry today. Thanks." Sydney said, giving a kiss to her husband, and crawling into the bed next to him.

"You're welcome." Vaughn turned off the light, and climbed into bed next to his wife. "Good night." He kissed Sydney once more and then held Sydney tight.

As much as Sydney wanted to quietly drift off to sleep, she couldn't. She found her mind racing at the speed of light, all thoughts towards Samantha. By the time she finally did fall asleep, she found that morning came far too quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

Vaughn had a piece of toast in his mouth, as Sydney tied his tie. His hands were full with his briefcase in one hand, and his cell phone, which he had just pulled from the charger by the door, in the other. Hayden sat at the table, eating a bowl of cereal, smiling up at her parents, as more of the cereal attempted to make it into her mouth. Unfortunately, the spoon was just slightly too big, and was just slightly too full, and she spilled half of it onto her lap. A little confused that the cereal didn't end up in her mouth, Hayden looked down at where the cheerios landed. She brought the spoon down to her lap, and she picked up what was missed and put it into her mouth. Still, a few stragglers fell from the corner of her chin.

"I don't get what is so important that they can't wait thirty minutes for you to arrive at your normal time. And they could have given you more warning." She said, stepping back, and looking at her husband.

"Remember what it was like before Hayden was born? The drop everything and run days?" Vaughn said, pulling the toast out of his mouth and pulling his wife into a hug. "This is just the same thing. It has just been four years. We're not used to the drop everything and go to work anymore." He said with a smile. "I like it that way. I love you." Vaughn walked over, and kissed his daughter on the head. Hayden paused her eating for a second, and looked up at her father with a bright smile, and then went back to getting her cheerios into her mouth. "And you be a good angel for Wendy today, just like you always are." He said trying to get the young girl's attention by squatting down and getting eye level. But Hayden said nothing, but kept working on her breakfast. Vaughn picked up a small handful of cheerios that landed on the floor and put them on the table for an easier clean up. He then kissed Sydney and walked to the door.

"I love you too." Sydney said, as she waved goodbye to him at the door. "See you in an hour."

"Bye."

Sydney looked at her daughter, and the mess she had made, she sighed. "Are you all done Hayden?" The girl nodded, and jumped off the chair, spilling a small pile of cheerios onto the floor. "Why don't you go get dressed honey? I put your dress out on your chair." Hayden ran off to her bedroom, while Sydney picked up the mess that her three year old daughter had made.

After dropping Hayden off at the babysitter's house, Sydney made her way to the hospital where Samantha was. Sydney was relieved not to get a call in the middle of the night saying that Samantha needed surgery, or that she had taken a turn for the worst. No one stopped Sydney as she walked into Samantha's room. Vaughn was already sitting at the chair next to her. "Hey Sam, its Syd. Keep holding on." Sydney said, greeting Samantha first, and then giving her husband a quick hug.

"How is she?" Sydney asked as she came up behind Vaughn.

"Better than they thought she'd be. They're going to wake her up around our lunch time."

"How long have you been sitting here?"

"No more than ten minutes."

"What did work want?"

"They just needed me to come in to report some findings that Weiss and Oberhoffer found in São Paulo. And the only reason I even had to come in was because Weiss and Oberhoffer worked through the night, are done, and were getting ready to fly home. So they needed me to talk with Weiss before their plane took off. How was the morning with Hayden?"

"Normal. I keep meaning to pick up a rug to stick underneath her chair so I don't have to sweep after every meal."

Vaughn chuckled. "I'll try to remind you later. I also told everyone that you'll be working from here today." He got up, and grabbed a chair from the corner for Sydney to sit in.

"Thanks. What time are you heading back to the office?"

"Within the hour. I'm going to stay here for a little bit longer. And I'll probably come back after she wakes up this afternoon."

Sydney leaned over, and rested her head against Vaughn's shoulder. "It's as if we're sitting at Hayden's bedside." She admitted. Vaughn said nothing, but held his wife close, knowing that there were no words that would help to comfort Sydney at that moment.

Doctors came in and out for most of the morning. Sydney kept asking for a better time when they know they'll be waking up Samantha, but they would give her the basic, "in a little while." She soon gave up even asking. When the doctors came in, Sydney would just sit, and stare, hoping that they would finally have answers for her.

Even though Sydney was frustrated with the doctor's vague answers, the one thing that they reassured her was that Samantha was going to be alright. Looking at Samantha and knowing how strong willed she was, Sydney had no choice to believe them, and hold fast to her desire to see Samantha bouncing back. However, the simple act of leaving Samantha's side still did not please her, not with the chance of a change in Samantha's condition. She did leave twice to get a cup of mediocre hospital coffee. But after taking a sip of the coffee, Sydney decided that it wasn't worth the money or the effort, only to get mad at herself when she did it again.

Sydney set up work in Samantha's room, using the air conditioner, and the small window sill as a make shift desk. From there, Sydney called Russia, hoping to find a safe haven for the Bujacks. They, too, turned the endangered pair away. Much to Sydney's disappointment, Josiah, Umber and Mathews found that they couldn't continue their investigation without Sydney near by, so they set up a mini office in the lobby. When something came up, they found it convenient to drop by Samantha's room, and talk to Sydney about it. She would simply dismiss them, hoping to get them to work on their own, and eventually they would move back to the offices on their own. Doctors, nurses, and security guards continually asked them to leave, but they were stubborn, and would only flash their badges. Even Sydney was getting annoyed by their eagerness on the job, and the fact that Kendall had even sent her those three agents. She was beginning to think that they were incompetent idiots. But then she remembered they were just young, eager, and naive about what they had gotten themselves into. Still, their constant need for help was beginning to bug their senior officer, and Sydney would just flash a smile, trying so hard to put up with them. All she wanted to do was order them to return back to the offices, but she had no grounds to do so. They were doing just as good of a job at the hospital as they would have at the office. They were just there to show Sydney every little piece of headway that they had made, rather than presenting it all at once.

Every once in a while, Sydney would take a break from her work, and quietly walk over to where Samantha lay, and just watch her, gently pushing her dark and long bangs away from her face. She would glance up at the machines, hoping to see the change in Samantha's condition, to signal her awakening, that the doctors seemed to be waiting an eternity for. Instead, all Sydney found was the fact that she didn't know anything about patients in comas, and that she had to keep waiting for news from tight-lipped doctors, and all she could do was wait.

It was close to one, when Vaughn entered the room. "I got over here as soon as I could…is she awake yet?" he asked.

Sydney threw her hands up in frustration. "No. And I don't know when they're going to wake her. They're not telling me anything. What are you doing here?"

"The doctors called me. They said they were going to wake her up soon. I got out of there as quickly as I could. They didn't tell you anything?"

"Nothing. So they're going to wake her soon?"

Just as Sydney finished talking, a team of four doctors came in. Sydney only recognized one, because he had been the one coming in and out all morning. "Good afternoon, I am Dr. Morgan. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn, are you ready to wake up Samantha?" He asked.

Sydney nodded. "How come you never told me you were going to wake her up? You call my husband at work, but you don't tell me?"

The doctor looked confused. "I saw you looking at the monitors all morning. I know that you have some medical knowledge, so I assumed you knew what numbers we were looking for."

As Dr. Morgan talked, Sydney shook her head. "No. I only have field medical training. I don't know anything about this. I was hoping to see some big red flashing sign that said to wake her up."

"I am truly sorry Mrs. Vaughn. Are you ready?" Sydney nodded. "We're going to ask you to wait outside." He said.

"Is it a dangerous procedure?" Vaughn asked, noticing the four doctors in the room.

Dr. Morgan chuckled. "No. We are required by law to have an extra doctor in here, just in case things do go wrong, because it is very possible for things to go very wrong. But we have taken every precaution against it. And these other two are just med students, here to observe. But we're asking you to wait outside in case something goes wrong, and we need all the space we can get. There will be about ten minutes from the time we administer Samantha the drug to when she actually wakes up. Unless nothing goes wrong, you'll be in here long before she wakes up. Rest assured, you will be by her side when her eyes open."

"In case something goes wrong!" Sydney quietly repeated to Vaughn as they left the small room.

"It's Samantha, she'll be ok." Vaughn assured her.

The two of them stood outside the room, looking through the window. Vaughn put his arm around Sydney's shoulder, as they watched Dr. Morgan slowly administer the drugs to wake Samantha. The doctors remained calm for the first few minutes, when suddenly, the lights on all of Samantha's monitors turned to red, and the doctors, and the med students suddenly all scurried around the small room trying to revive Samantha.

"Vaughn! What's happening!" Sydney asked, tears forming.

"I don't know!" Vaughn answered, watching and trying to figure out the situation for himself. Sydney had an urge to open the door and demand answers from the doctors, but Vaughn's arm reminded her that her place was on the other side of the glass. One of the med students rushed over to the window, obviously at a doctor's order, and shut the blinds.

"Vaughn!" Sydney cried. Vaughn could feel himself losing it as much as Sydney was, but he knew that he had to remain strong. He led Sydney to the waiting room, and set her in a chair. Umber and Mathews were already sitting in the waiting room, surrounded by their computers and various folders. When they saw their senior officers come into the waiting room, obviously shaken, they were both concerned. However, they both figured that silence was the best way to avoid getting fired.

"She's going to be alright. There was just a complication. Samantha couldn't have made it all this way only to give up here." Vaughn assured his wife.

"What if she's not? What if she has decided to give up?"

"It's not like Sam to give up."

"You're right. But, what if the doctors did something wrong? What if Samantha's condition made it so she wasn't ready to be forced to wake up?"

Vaughn kissed Sydney's forehead, still holding strong for his wife's sake. "What if she's alright?"

It was at that moment that Josiah got off the elevator, and briskly walked over to the waiting room, with three deli sandwiches from the cafeteria. "Who wants lunch? And guess what I got. I got the number of that cute nurse we keep seeing." When he saw Sydney and Vaughn's somber faces, he looked at Umber and Mathews. "Did she die?" He asked. Then, realizing the stupidity of the comment he closed his eyes. "So not the time to act like an asshole." He said, putting the sandwiches down, and then slapping himself in the forehead.

Sydney just looked up at him and glared. Josiah slinked back to an empty seat that was obviously his. They waited for a few minutes, before Dr. Morgan came over to them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn, I apologize for having one of the students close the curtains. It is actually hospital policy to do that in a time of critical."

"Is Samantha ok?" Vaughn asked, as he and Sydney both rose to their feet.

"At first, her body rejected the medicine we gave her. Her heart stopped beating, so we had to shock her. That seemed to do the trick and she accepted it. So in just a few minutes she'll be waking up just as planned."

"Can we see her?" Sydney asked, taking Vaughn's hand.

Dr. Morgan nodded. "Talk to her, so that she knows that you're there and it's alright to wake up."

The two of them, quietly walked into Samantha's room. Dr. Morgan followed them in. "Sam?" Sydney quietly said, taking Samantha's hand. "It's okay to wake up now. Michael and I are here."

"Hey Samantha." Vaughn added for good measure. The three waited there for a few minutes before slowly, Samantha's eyes opened.

"Sydney?" Samantha asked, noticing her cousin standing there. Her voice was weak and muffled due to the oxygen mask that was still over her nose and mouth.

"Hey Sam. We really have to stop meeting up like this, you know, with you in a hospital bed." Sydney said with a smile. "I am so glad you're up." She leaned over and gave Samantha a hug, which was returned with the best of Samantha's weak ability.

"Hey Vaughn." Samantha said. But that was all she said before falling asleep again.

Sydney looked at the doctor for an answer. The doctor checked Samantha's blood pressure and then turned to Sydney and Vaughn. "It's perfectly normal for her to do this in and out thing. She'll probably do it for a day or more. The good news is, she is no longer in any coma of any kind, and she won't be needing any help breathing. The doctor said, pulling the mask off of Samantha's face.

"But she's alright?" Vaughn checked.

"She's probably out of the woods, but we're still doing a lot of monitoring of her chest area, because she could possibly still be bleeding out, or with her type of injury, an infection is actually very common. We'll want her here for maybe a week or more, but probably no more than two weeks." Dr. Morgan said. "Does the CIA know where she is going after we release her?"

"We're going to talk to her about coming back and staying with us." Vaughn said. "If she won't accept that, we'll arrange something."

For most of the afternoon, Samantha remained asleep. Her eyes would slowly flutter open for a second. She would look around a little disoriented, but wouldn't say anything. After realizing that Sydney was in the room with her, Samantha would close her eyes. It began to rain in the afternoon, and the noisy silence that used to occupy the room was replaced by the quiet beat of raindrops hitting the pavement outside.

Sydney left the hospital at her normal time for leaving work. Little work actually got done after Samantha was woken from her coma, and Sydney mostly stayed by Samantha's bedside, hoping that Samantha would wake up for a longer period of time. It pained Sydney to leave Samantha's bedside when 4:30 rolled around, but Sydney thought of another girl that needed Sydney just as much. Hayden was happy to see her mother picking her up from the babysitters, and eagerly ran to her mother's waiting arms the second Wendy's front door was opened.

As Sydney was finishing preparing their dinner of macaroni and cheese, Vaughn came through the front door. He put down his briefcase, shook the water from his jacket and went to see his girls in the kitchen.

"Did you see Samantha after work?" Sydney asked as the three sat down at the table.

"Who is Samantha?" Hayden asked.

"Aunt Samantha, well, she's my cousin." Sydney said. "She's in the hospital right now."

"Oh. Is she sick?"

"Very. So did you?"

Vaughn shook his head. "No. I'm going to join you at the hospital tomorrow though. I cleaned out a lot of my work, so I can just deal with a few things. Samantha should be more conscious tomorrow."

"I have to spend at least the morning at the office. I still don't have a place for the Bujacks."

"Why is Aunt Samantha sick?" Hayden asked.

Neither Sydney nor Vaughn wanted to answer the question, so Vaughn just decided to change the subject. "Eat your beans Hayden." He instructed.

"I don't like beans." Hayden pouted. "I want bread."

Vaughn furrowed his brows and looked at his young daughter. "Three beans, and then bread."

The next morning, Sydney came into the office, and put down her briefcase. Before she had a chance to sit down, Weiss was beside her with a file. "God, I thought you'd never get in!" He said.

"I got here at my normal time. I had to drop Hayden off. How is Lindsay by the way?"

"She's good. The morning sickness is a lie."

"Always is. What is up?"

Weiss dropped a folder on Sydney's desk. "I know we weren't tasked to be researching the ADNs or Henrique's murder, but this sort of fell into our lap." He explained.

Sydney opened the folder, and found pictures of Christopher Henrique, shortly after the murder, as well as the notes on Henrique's death that the coroner made. She looked at them, and then looked up at Weiss for an explanation.

"He was shot in two places. The back of the head and between the shoulders. Notice that it is not the chest or the forehead. Our investigation also showed that the ADN operatives had access to the close range shots, from the front. But the way he was shot is characteristic of rogue police officers." Weiss explained.

"That would explain why they know how to get around everything in Brazil. They run the place." Sydney said, thumbing through the folder. "Simon Stoppa, was he once a former police officer?"

"The Alliance guy?"

"The Alliance did have a cell in Brazil. It is possible that he started as a member of the police force."

"I don't know. I'll look into it." Weiss started to leave. "Oh, I got some things from Samantha's apartment when we were there. We got a couple of those pigs that she collects, and then there was a DVD there that looked pretty important. They're in storage now."

"Alright. When are you going to have your report done about your findings of the crime scene?"

"Hey! I got home late last night, dealt with a pregnant wife, so I'm starting it now. You got all the big stuff. Oh yeah, it looks like whoever Samantha's shooter was, climbed through the window. But the window is really small. So they either are really tiny, or they're impressively flexible."

"Alright. I want you to compare the list of these rogue officers, and actually all officers that we have listed with whatever information we have on them. Cross reference that with their contacts, and see if anything comes up for arms or intelligence." Sydney instructed.

"I'll get Marshall right on that." Weiss said leaving.

Sydney barely had time to sit down before someone was standing over her again. "I got bad news Honey." Vaughn said. Sydney spun around in her chair and looked up at him. "The Bujacks were taking a temporary refuge in Berlin until we could find them another place. Problem is, the German government found out, and they're kicking the Bujacks out. They're on a flight this afternoon."

"Cape Town. In South Africa." Sydney said. "Steven Mangena owes me big after last year and what happened with his granddaughter's kidnapping. And the ADN is not very active there yet. There some drug traffic, but not near as much with the arms and intelligence. They'll be relatively safe." Sydney picked up the phone, and her address book, and quickly called South Africa. "May I speak to Steven Mangena please? Tell him that this is Sydney Vaughn... Steve? How have you been?... That's good. Listen, about that favor you owe me."

Vaughn nervously waited as Sydney argued with Mangena. Figuring that Sydney was going to be on the phone for a while, Vaughn picked up Sydney's empty coffee mug and left. He had time to leave and make a fresh pot of coffee and bring two hot mugs back for both him and Sydney. When he returned, Sydney was still arguing with Mangena over the terms. He set the mug down, and Sydney immediately took a sip, and mouthed a thank you.

"Get the Bujacks on the next flight to South Africa." Sydney said, pushing aside the phone for a second. "Mangena will take them. I'm just smoothing the wrinkles."

Vaughn nodded, and went back to his desk to make the arrangements. Nearly two hours later, Sydney walked over to her husband's desk. "Everything work out with Mangena?" Vaughn asked.

"He has got to call in a favor from someone else first. But we're guaranteed two days, which buys us enough time. He'll give me a more final answer this afternoon. However he did say that he was fairly confident that they can help us hide the Bujacks there. What do you say we grab some lunch, and finish off the day by working and visiting Samantha?"

Vaughn sighed and stood up. "Sounds good. I'll tell Mathews, Umber and Josiah. I'm sure that they'll want to know. And then follow us."

The two were walking towards Samantha's room an hour later, when a nurse stopped them. "Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn!" She called out. "Before you go in there, I need to talk to you."

Both Sydney and Vaughn turned, a little unsure on who was calling for them, and how she knew their names. "And you are?" Sydney asked.

"Nurse Jordan. I've been watching Samantha White all morning."

"And how did you know who we were?" Vaughn then asked.

"Dr. Morgan told me to watch out for two people, probably with briefcases or bags. I am just glad I was right."

"Is there something wrong with Sam?" Sydney asked.

"No, in fact, Samantha is doing much better. She was awake for a while this morning, didn't say anything, it was a good half hour. We asked her stuff, to see if she'd talk, but she didn't have the energy. She's been waking up for longer periods of time, and more frequently for the past couple of hours. If she wakes up, I need you to either come get me or Dr. Morgan." Nurse Jordan said.

Sydney and Vaughn nodded, and then went into Samantha's room. Nothing had changed from the night before, except that the breathing machine had been removed, and someone had been kind enough to add a second chair. Sydney and Vaughn both sat down. They watched as half of their team walked by, laptop bags slung over their shoulders, as they made their way to the waiting room for the second day in a row of a temporary office. They also noted two nurses standing outside at the desk, scowling as Umber, Mathews and Josiah walked by, strutting as if they owned the world. "They must hate us here." Sydney said, motioning to them.

"Then they should get Samantha on her feet faster. Because as long as she's here, we're here. And as long as we're here, it looks like they'll be here too."

Sydney smiled, and Samantha stirred. "Samantha?" She gently said.

Samantha's eyes opened. "Sydney? Vaughn?"

"Hey. Welcome back." Sydney said, while Vaughn leaned over and gave Samantha a gentle hug.

"I'll go get the doctor." Vaughn volunteered.

"Where am I? What are you guys doing in São Paulo?" Samantha asked.

Sydney lowered her head, ashamed of what she had to tell Samantha. "This isn't São Paulo. We had to bring you back to LA."

Neither Sydney nor Samantha had any chance to react, because it was at that moment that both Vaughn and Dr. Morgan came back into the room. Vaughn went and sat down again, while the doctor stood at the foot of Samantha's bed. Dr. Morgan glanced down at his chart, and then looked at Samantha. "Welcome back to us, Miss White. I'm Dr. Morgan. You gave us a nasty scare a yesterday, but it looks like you're going to be alright. You're not out of the woods yet, so you'll be here for a couple more days. I'll be outside, or if I'm not, Nurse Jordan will be out there if you need me for any reason. You may feel better, but I want you to get lots of rest."

Samantha weakly nodded, and Dr. Morgan left. "You guys brought me back to LA?" She asked quietly. Although her voice was calm, Sydney could tell that it was painful for Samantha to talk, as well as how angry she was to be back within the border of the United States.

"We had to honey." Vaughn answered.

"You guys were following me? I asked you not to."

"I didn't want to. It was a question of national security. We had to keep tabs on you." Sydney answered. "Anytime your case came up, which was rarely, I made sure someone else was on top of it. I tried so hard."

Samantha looked a little upset, and then her face softened. "Well, I guess it is good to see you guys. It has been eight years. And I bet you can tell me what happened. Why am I here?"

"What do you remember?" Vaughn asked.

"I don't know, but my chest is killing me."

Sydney looked confused. "You mean you don't remember getting shot in the chest?"

Samantha's eyebrows rose. "Shot! When! How!"

"You don't remember any of it?" Sydney asked, concerned.

"I don't remember much after Chris died." Samantha shut her eyes, the memory still very painful. "I just remember a basement somewhere."

"You went after his killers." Vaughn explained. "You killed two men, but some how a third made it into the room. He shot you, and then assumed you were dead. Luckily, someone heard the shot, and broke into the basement. They found you alive, and brought you to a hospital. That's how we got a hold of you, and then we brought you here where we could better protect you."

"And bring you home." Sydney added.

"The details of what all happened down there are still coming in. Weiss and Oberhoffer are writing their report on what they found now. We'll know a lot more tomorrow."

"Who was it? Who killed my fiancé?" Sam demanded. "Obviously I knew at one point, but I don't know who it is anymore. Who did I just kill?"

"Fiancé?" Sydney asked.

A small smile escaped Samantha's lips as she briefly remembered the good and happy times with her fiancé. It was the first smile of Samantha's that Sydney had seen in almost eight years. However the smile quickly turned to a hard frown, as Samantha then remembered how he had been stolen from her. "We were engaged for four months." Samantha paused. Sydney could almost see the kind Samantha, the Samantha that used to live with them, as Samantha spoke. But then like a light switch, Samantha turned. She suddenly became cold and protected, from years of mental abuse from herself for the JIP. "So who was it?"

"Andadores da Noite." Sydney answered.

"The drug ring?" Samantha asked.

"You've heard of the ADN?" Vaughn asked.

Samantha nodded. "Chris's father kept getting offerings from them to help stash some of their stuff. He would only accept enough to keep the ADN off his back. They've been working peacefully for years. But that doesn't explain why. Was Chris getting involved with the Andadores da Noite? He would have told me. We told each other everything. Well almost anything. He didn't know everything about the JIP. Just enough to keep him informed."

Sydney looked at Vaughn, and the two shared a look. "He wasn't killed because of the drug ring. The ADN have broken into the intelligence business lately, and they have been targeting the JIP children."

"He was killed because of me?" Samantha realized. Neither Sydney nor Vaughn knew what to say. The room was in near silence for two minutes, before Samantha feebly spoke. "I'm tired. I think I'll try to take a nap." She said, closing her eyes.

"We're going to head back to work. You rest. Vaughn will stop by after work, and I'll see if I can stop by later." Sydney said.

Samantha didn't say anything. She just lay there. It was the first time that Sydney heard Samantha's heavy and pained breathing. The husband and wife left the room without another word.

"I don't know what surprised me more, that Samantha was engaged or that she doesn't remember anything about killing those men." Vaughn said.

"Henrique's father. We should question him about his knowledge about the ADN. He might be willing to talk since it was his son that was killed."

"That would require sending a second team there. It's unfair to send Weiss and Oberhoffer right now." Vaughn said.

"Yeah, Lindsay would kill me for sending her husband out again." Sydney said.

As Sydney rounded the corner to the waiting room she found Josiah, and Mathews chatting lightly with their sandwiches in the laps, and a laptop in the chair between the two of them. She watched as Umber decided to join the conversation, and almost sat down in the chair that contained the laptop. Both Josiah and Mathews noticed, and quickly Umber moved from his spot. "I think I know just the people to send to Brazil." Sydney said with a sly grin.


	4. Chapter 4

"Where are you taking me Chris?" Samantha asked as her eyes were covered and she was being led blindly on unstable ground. She could only assume they were in one of Chris' father's coffee fields.

"You will see." Christopher Henriques teased back, his accent thick. If there was one thing that Christopher could do, it was make Samantha happy. Early in their relationship, Chris discovered that the American college drop-out preferred English over the Brazilian Portuguese, and he was very careful to use his fast improving English around her.

"Tell me, please? Where are you taking me?"

"It is a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

"Liar." Christopher objected. "You have always loved my surprises."

"Alright. But I hate this one. I want to know where you are taking me."

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you."

"Good. Now stop asking. I am not going to tell you, and I will not let you take off your blindfold until we're there."

Samantha smiled, excited by the surprise. In a slightly awkward move, she found Christopher's face and attempted to kiss him. In the end, she only ended up gracing his nose. "That would have gone better if I could have seen." Samantha added.

"It would have gone better if I had done this," Christopher took Samantha's face into his hands, and kissed her.

Samantha smiled. "Or that."

Christopher let go of Samantha's hand and she heard him take a couple steps away from her in the rustling of the coffee plants. Samantha attempted to follow him by listening for his footsteps, but she tripped in on a small irrigation ditch. Still unable to see, Samantha tried to regain her balance, but she only ended up on her back in the middle of two coffee plants. She and Christopher both started laughing, and he rushed to be her knight in shining armor.

After helping Samantha up, the two shared a warm hug. "Don't ever leave me alone." Samantha said.

"Alright."

"Promise me." Samantha insisted. "I don't have a lot but Chris, I need you to promise me that you'll never leave me."

"I promise you, I will never, ever leave you alone." Christopher said, giving Samantha an extra squeeze before he pulled from the embrace.

"Good. Are we almost there?" Samantha asked, refusing to let go of Christopher's hand.

"I left you alone so I could do one last finishing touch. But now that I cannot leave you alone, I guess we're there." Christopher moved to take off Samantha's blindfold, his other hand still in Samantha's.

The blindfold elegantly fell to the ground like a falling feather. Suddenly, Christopher's hand was no longer with Samantha. Samantha looked around, but Christopher was no longer there. All that was there were fields upon fields of coffee on top of a hill, and a bench ten feet in front of her. Samantha ran to it, and stepped on top of it.

Over looking the small valley and the infinite stars, Samantha started to cry. "YOU PROMISED!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, nearly doubling over trying to be as loud as possible. Samantha took a deep breath before she tried to get out more of her anger and pain by shouting as loud as she could. "YOU PROMISED ME THAT YOU WOULD NEVER LEAVE ME ALONE! I AM ALONE! YOU PROMISED!"

In her frustration, Samantha collapsed and sat on the bench, not facing the valley or the stars…this time towards the coffee. "I need you. I need you." She kept repeating as she hugged herself and rocked back and forth.

Samantha woke up, with the tears already coming.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Samantha and Sydney sat in the chairs by the window. Samantha had been moved to a different and more comfortable a week before. After a week in the ICU, Samantha was glad to be in a different room, and Sydney and Vaughn were glad for the setting change when they went to visit Samantha. Sydney had made sure that her cousin got a private room, and the two chose to sit by the window when Sydney came to visit. This visit was very quiet. Neither had said anything much since Sydney's arrival ten minutes earlier. "You know, I can't stay long. I have to pick up Hayden in fifteen minutes. Wendy has to go do some stuff this afternoon and Vaughn has to work late." Sydney explained, hoping to break the silence.

"I know. You told me." Samantha said. "Syd, you and Vaughn don't have to come every day."

"We want to." Sydney insisted. "I've really missed you these past years. I've missed having my cousin around."

"But you guys are going out of your way. Vaughn is here before work, and then you're left with Hayden to get both her and you ready. And then you leave your daughter with a babysitter for an extra hour so you can visit. It isn't fair to you, it isn't fair to her. I don't want to be a burden."

Sydney put her hand on Samantha's knee to make sure that she had Samantha's attention. "You are not a burden. In fact, Michael and I have been cleaning out our office to turn it into a guest room. Since the doctors don't want you out traveling the globe on your own for a month, and you are getting out of her in a couple days, we'd love it if you would stay with us."

"Alright." Samantha answered.

"Alright?" Sydney was confused by Samantha's easy submission. She had been digging her heels into the idea that Sydney had brought her back to the United States. "What? No fight, no protest about being a burden?"

Samantha shook her head. "No. You're right. I shouldn't be traveling, and I need a place to stay."

"Good."

"But only if I'm not a burden."

"Trust me. You won't be."

The two were once again at a loss for words. "Have you thought about where you might go after the doctors say ok?"

Samantha shook her head. "It won't be São Paulo, that's for sure. And I guess I kind of liked Europe a bit. France was nice. So was Italy. But I don't know. I thought about just thumbing for rides again on some random place. You guys will follow me again, huh?"

Sydney nodded. "It isn't a personal thing. It is a matter of national security."

"After what happened to Christopher, it wouldn't be too bad to have someone looking out for me." Samantha quietly said.

"We all are looking out for you. It has become an entire agency thing to take down the ADN." Sydney said. "We didn't tell you this, but the ADN was the ones responsible for the bombings in São Paulo a couple days ago. I guess they got word that you were still alive, and wanted to make a statement."

"By killing diplomats?"

"Yes." Sydney said. "I wanted to take down the ADN for you, for what they did to you and what they're forcing you to go through. But now we have the entire agency backing us. If you would like to stay, we'd love to have your help. You have enough knowledge of the ADN to find the killers on your own. Even though you don't remember what you did, or how you did it, Barnett thinks that it might come back easy to you. You would be an amazing asset."

"I don't know Syd. Me, an agent?"

Sydney nodded. "Who knows how many more fiancés there are that need protections. Yours and mine both could have been prevent-"

"Shut up!" Samantha cut off Sydney. It still hurt so much to think about Christopher, and she didn't want to hear that his death could have been avoided if she had done something different. Samantha paused as she collected her thoughts. "I had my first dream in seven years three nights ago. It was about Chris."

If Sydney had been standing, she would have stumbled back. The day Samantha turned eighteen, the day her programming took effect, Samantha stopped dreaming. And now here she was confessing that she had a dream. "He was a big part of your life. If you were to start dreaming again, it only makes sense that it was about him."

"He wasn't just a part of my life." Samantha corrected. "He was my life. We were going to live happily ever after. And the ADN took it away from me, from him, from us."

Sydney just sat back in her chair. She knew where Samantha's anger was going to take her. All Sydney had to do was sit back and wait. Samantha was quiet and looked out the window for a second. "Alright. I'll help you guys take down the ADN but then I'm out. I will not even give a two weeks notice. Once the raid or whatever we end up doing is over, I am out of there, and thumbing for a ride somewhere. Got it?"

Sydney nodded. "I said the same thing though." She said with a smile.

"You had something to stay for. I will have nothing."

It was an arrow aimed at the heart. Sydney felt insulted that Samantha wouldn't find a home again with her family. "Sam, you'll always have us. Even if you don't think we're not worth staying for." Sydney stood up and grabbed her purse.

Fearing that she offended Sydney, Samantha made an attempt to apologize and grabbed Sydney's hand. "I didn't mean that."

"I know." Sydney said with a smile. "I have got to go pick up Hayden. I'll see you tomorrow Sam."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow." Samantha said. She sunk back into her chair and turned back to looking out the window.

Hayden was watching the Wiggles in the living room and Sydney was busy cooking dinner in the kitchen when Vaughn came home. Hayden heard the garage door, and quickly abandoned her show and went running to the door. Vaughn hadn't even put down his briefcase before Hayden attached herself to Vaughn's leg, as she did every day. "Hello Angel." He said, picking the girl up.

"Hi Daddy."

Sydney smiled and put down her spoon and came and greeted her husband. "Did you get the papers I asked you to get?" She asked after giving him a brief kiss.

Vaughn set Hayden down, and she went scurrying back to the living room. The TV was forgotten however and she was playing some sort of bedtime game with her small doll. "Yes. They're in my briefcase. I cannot believe Samantha didn't put up a fight to join the agency. She seemed so upset that we brought her back to the States to start with." Vaughn said.

"Me too." Sydney said. "The way she just agreed to stay with us floored me."

"We will fill these out and then I'll talk to Sam in the morning. I'll get her to sign all this agency stuff."

Sydney smiled. "She wanted to make sure that we weren't a burden to her. I'm afraid with all this paperwork we're handing her now that we'll be the burdens to her."

"Plus, we'll have a live-in babysitter." Vaughn said with a sly grin.

"You have to wait a full week before you're allowed to ask." Sydney said. "She may not want to baby-sit for us."

"Who wouldn't want to spend time playing with our little girl and get paid for it?"

Sydney stirred the noodles in the pot. "This," she motioned to the house, herself, Hayden and Vaughn, "is what she and Christopher were going to have. She may not want to be reminded about what is gone. I know after Danny, I didn't want to see families. I thought that I would never have one of my own. Of course I realized that there was the perfect man still out there for me."

"Why thank you." Vaughn said, kissing his wife.

"Know what you can do?"

"No."

"You are more than welcome to call up Robin, and you and I can go to dinner someplace where they don't serve pasta." She tempted.

"Again?" Vaughn suddenly noticing the pot of boiling water. He picked up the lid to the pot and looked down past the steam unhappily at the shell shaped pasta below. He picked up the smaller pot next to it and noticed the red sauce already boiling. He gave a look of boredom and disgust as he put the lid back onto the pot.

"She better grow out of this. I am getting sick of pasta and bread and cheerios being the only things that she'll eat. And I don't have the heart to force her to eat something else." Sydney said.

Vaughn put his arms around Sydney and smiled. "Dinner without pasta sounds good for one night. Dinner with only you sounds great. I'll call to see if Robin is available." Vaughn made a move for the phone.

"And if you get Dixon first, let him know about Samantha and how we already got the papers for her." Sydney added.

"Alright." Vaughn said as he listened to the ringing.

"Oh! See if Steven can help us paint the guest room and help us move things in on Saturday."

Vaughn nodded, and left the room to talk to the three members of the Dixon family in a quieter room. Sydney strained the noodles, and called for her daughter. "Hayden, come wash your hands for dinner."

"They're not dirty." Hayden protested. "And I'm not hungry."

Sydney walked into the living room and turned off the TV. "Yes they are. Wash your hands Missy. It is time for dinner."

"Noooooo!" Hayden cried as she dragged her feet into the kitchen. Sydney already had her little red stool next to the sink and turned on the water for the girl, and Hayden stepped up to it and put her hands under the water. All the while, still whining about how her hands were not dirty and how she wasn't hungry. By the time she saw Sydney putting dinner on the table, Hayden had changed her mind. She raced to the table.

"I thought you were hungry." Sydney said, as she brought salad out.

"That was five minutes ago." Hayden informed her mother.

"Oh. Go find Daddy. Tell him its time for dinner."

Hayden jumped off of her chair and went running around the house screaming "Daddy!" as loud as she could. When Hayden finally found her father in the guest room, she yelled "Daddy! Come to dinner!" As quick as a flash she was running out of the room and was back in her chair at the table.

Vaughn came in with a grin on his face. He put the phone back on the hook and took his seat at the head of the table. "What'd they say?" Sydney asked as she served Hayden both pasta and salad.

"Robin said she could baby-sit on Friday. Steven has a basketball thing on Saturday, so he can't help us out. I'll talk to Weiss tomorrow. And Dixon said that he's glad to get Samantha on board, and that about twenty minutes after I left, Umber, Mathews and Josiah are finally ready to do their presentation on the interview with Henriques."

"It only took them a week." Sydney complained.

"The bombings set everyone back. And since they were a team in country, Kendall had to re-task them to help cover that. Without them we probably never would have figured out that it was the ADN." Vaughn said.

"I'll be glad to see them tomorrow." Sydney said. "I still wish I could have done the interview myself. Do you think we could bring Henriques in sometime? I mean I'd love to talk to him myself, and Samantha would love to see him probably."

"I don't know. We'll have to see what the report comes through."

"Mommy? Can you take me to the zoo? Jaxon got a new toy elephant, and I want to see a real one again so I can tell him that I saw a real one. And I don't want Daddy to take me because he spends too much time looking at the bears. And the bears, they're, they're always hiding, so we're always looking at trees trying to find them. I like the elephants and the giraffes and the monkeys because you can always see them." Hayden asked, as she ate another bite of pasta, skipping over the salad completely.

Sydney looked at the plate, and then her daughter. "I'll make you a deal. Ok?" Hayden nodded. "We will go to the zoo on Sunday, if you eat all of your vegetables and dinner the rest of the week and if there are no red stars on your bad girl chart. Ok?"

Hayden nodded, and moved her fork towards the salad. The zoo felt like a good reason to eat the green things on her plate. She looked at the salad warily, but put a piece of cucumber onto her fork with her fingers. The action went unnoticed by both of her parents who turned their attention to their own dinners.

"Sunday. That's the day that Samantha is being released." Vaughn observed.

"Yes. Would you mind picking her up?" Sydney asked.

"Nope. Hopefully we'll have a place for her to stay by then."

"Is Aunt Samantha going to be staying with us?" Hayden asked.

"Yes." Sydney answered. "She'll be staying in the office. You know how Daddy and I have been moving things out of there?" Hayden nodded. "Daddy and I are making a bedroom for Aunt Samantha to stay in."

"Is she nice?"

"Very."

"Will I like her?"

"Most likely."

"Will she like me?"

"I hope so." Sydney answered with a large smile on her face. "Everyone loves you."

"Wendy took us to the big playground with the slide that is more than a mile long today." Hayden said, changing the topic as she often did. Sydney and Vaughn just smiled and looked at the girl, and listening to her adventures stories of the park and her friends.

The next morning, Sydney sat in the briefing room twirling her pen as she waited for the remaining people to arrive. She glanced at her watch and then at the clock on the wall. Vaughn was supposed to be arriving from the hospital soon. And she was tired of waiting. The whole of the JIP department, minus Vaughn, were already there, along with several other agents re tasked in the new agency wide goal of taking down the ADN. But there were a few people missing. Vaughn was taking extra long with Samantha that morning, and Kendall, not wanting to waste a second waiting for Vaughn, was still in his office.

Up front, Umber, Mathews and Josiah were pumping themselves up for the presentation that they were about to give. Dixon sat on Sydney's left, but he was busy catching up on the JIP file. He was one of the agents that was recently re-tasked, and he was trying to absorb everything he could. But Sydney was getting bored just sitting there. This meeting was supposed to catch her up, and all she was doing was waiting. She leaned to her left and interrupted Dixon's reading. "Dixon, thank Robin for me for helping us out this Friday."

Dixon looked at Sydney with a smile. "She loves Hayden. Of course she was going to cancel her plans to baby-sit."

"She's canceling her plans?" Sydney said. "Vaughn and I don't want her to do that."

Dixon chuckled. "She didn't even want to go to the play. It was just a good excuse to get out of it."

"Well, thank her anyway." Sydney said, before noticing that Dixon really wanted to get back to the file. She sat down, and stared at the wall. With a three year old in her house, Sydney found her attention span growing shorter. She didn't need to have the long attention span at home. Hayden was always getting up and starting a new game or project every couple minutes, and Sydney found herself following Hayden around. Most of the time she was able to keep her shorter attention span under control at work, but when there was nothing for her to do, Sydney found herself getting anxious for something to do.

At long last Vaughn came through the door. He looked a little frazzled when he slid into the seat next to Sydney. Sydney looked over at her husband and became worried. "Is everything alright?" She asked.

Vaughn was slightly out of breath and his hair was messed up as if he had just been running. The tie that he had so carefully picked out that morning to match his blue stripped shirt was loosened and askew. And the furrowed brow, the look Sydney found so irresistible, hadn't left his face in the minutes he had seen Sydney. Sydney had only seen him like this once. Hayden had a bad virus the year before. Her fever spiked to 104.3 when Vaughn rushed her to the hospital. Sydney was visiting Beth and Mark at the time. When she arrived at the hospital after receiving the news, Vaughn had the same look. Something had to be terribly wrong.

Vaughn took a deep breath as he tried to decide what to tell Sydney, or more to the point, how to tell Sydney. However he never got the chance to even start because it was at that moment that Kendall came through the door. His left foot led the way, and before his right foot had come over the threshold he was demanding that the meeting start.


	5. Chapter 5

Sydney looked over at her husband, hoping that he would whisper to her what was wrong, but he waved her off, mouthing that the story was too long. Sydney's thoughts began to fly all over the place. It couldn't have been Hayden. They would have called her first. And anything work related would not have left him in this much of a frenzy. That could only mean one thing. Samantha. Did the ADN find her? Did she have another slip and become violent? Did she change her mind about joining the agency? Sydney was going crazy wondering what could be wrong. But Vaughn wouldn't answer. So instead she turned her attention to the front.

The three young agents were motioning to one another to start. Finally after Kendall looked like he was going to shoot them himself, they agreed on who was to talk first. "Henriques was tight lipped about anything relating to the ADN." Mathews started. "We tried for four days to get him to even recognize what we were talking about."

"We got a similar response when we talked to the workers at Henriques' farm." Josiah continued. "They all registered what we were talking about, although mysteriously did not know anything about them when questioned."

"After taking a break to work with Brazilian intelligence with the bombings we returned to the farm. For the first day, Henriques pretended he didn't even know who we were. It was like talking to someone with a memory problem." Mathews picked up. "Knowing we were running out of time, we came up with a new idea. We mentioned that we knew that Samantha was still alive. It really piqued his interest. I mean, Henriques looked as if he had found a daughter. He started to demand to see her. We were able to exchange pictures for information."

Umber continued. "They have an agreement with the ADN, just as Samantha said. The ADN approached him first seven years ago. The Henriques farm is on one of the routes that the Andadores da Noite uses to get their drugs out of Brazil. They wanted to keep stashes in his east coffee field. In exchange, Henriques would get a large sum of money."

"He said no for a year. He said that the money would have looked suspicious to his family and his friends and the police would notice too. The ADN insisted that the police would be covered. After a year, Henriques' workers were starting to be poisoned, and he got threatening notes. We have a copy of one here." Josiah said turning around and bringing up a typed note to the front screen.

Everyone turned their attention to the board. The note was obviously a photograph of the original. The nervous creasing and un-creasing of the paper was obvious. The letters were worn from all the folding and unfolding that Henriques did. The letters were fragmented from wear and tear, but it was still readable. "Primeito seus trabalhadores, depois a sua familia. Nos ajude ou nos vamos tomar a sua terra."

"First your workers, then your family. Help us or we will _take_ your land from you." Sydney translated. "The threat scared him into cooperating?"

The three agents nodded. Umber continued on. "Henriques caved after only a few notes. His wife convinced him that the money could be used to slowly expand their plantation and to send their sons to the university. The ADN spent no time at all moving in. They built a small tunnel system underneath his east field. Even Henriques doesn't know the exact location of the opening of the system. He showed us the east field. It bumps right up against the side of a large hill. He thinks the opening is underneath the hill."

"He refused to even take us there. He's afraid that if he gets too close, the ADN will think that he's snooping, and they'll terminate their agreement." Josiah said. Umber, Mathews and Josiah's confidence was building. In their minds, the meeting was going well.

Kendall leaned forward in his chair. "You keep talking about this 'agreement.' What we want and need to know is what kind of agreement is this?"

Their self esteem was lowered. It suddenly dawned on them why the meeting was being held in the first place. They all three started to talk at once, and then silence as they debated with motions on who was going to pick up with the agreement.

Sydney took the opportunity to turn her attention away from the agents and to her husband. Vaughn looked as if he was somewhere else. His face still carried a worried look, and a furrowed brow, a look which only intensified Sydney's curiosity on what was happening, and dread that it was worse than anything she could imagine.

"Basically the ADN and Henriques have the agreement. The ADN comes and goes as they please. The money turns up in the bank. Everyone is too scared to talk about it basically, which is why no one was talking. If the authorities found out…everyone thinks that the ADN will kill them."

"That doesn't make sense. The ADN is composed of rogue police. They are the authorities." Sydney pointed out.

Umber and Mathews looked at each other, a little dumbfounded at the question. They both turned to Josiah who looked like he had won the lottery. "One night I was able to get a talk with Henriques alone. He says he's never met an ADN operative. Never even seen a face. When they first came forward with wanting to use his land, they sent messenger boys or called on the phone. No one knows what they look like, who they are or anything else."

"These people control much of the Brazilian drug trade, and no one knows who they are? I find that hard to believe." Kendall added.

"That's not true." Sydney interrupted. "We know that Stoppa is high up on the food chain, possibly the top man. We just can't get our hands on him."

Kendall looked over at Sydney for the first time for the meeting. It was also the first time he saw the distressed Vaughn. He did a double take on Vaughn, but then turned his attention back to Sydney. "How long have we been after Stoppa?"

Sydney shrugged her shoulders. "We started with the take down of the Alliance. After a couple years, we shifted our attention away from former Alliance members, and he fell through the cracks. I think he's been off our radar for probably 8 years or so. His name has been attached with the Andadores da Noite for years. But the ADN hasn't been a priority. The Drug Enforcement Administration might have more info about Stoppa. I asked for everything they had a last week sometime, they have yet to get back to me about him."

"The DEA has never been much of a cooperator after Johnson screwed up the joint task three years ago." Dixon joked quietly to Sydney, who only smiled in response.

Kendall made some notes in his file, presumably about Stoppa, and looked up, ready for the agents to continue with the meeting. But the three agents were out of things to report, and offered their hands and raised their eyebrows to ask for questions.

"Did Henriques ever suspect that the ADN murdered his son?" Dixon asked.

All three agents shook their head. "He made it very clear that the ADN was very pleased with how they were dealing. When we asked about how he thinks that Christopher was murdered, he said that he full heartedly believed the story that is in the papers. That Christopher was robbed, and then murdered. He thinks that Samantha just ran away from the grief."

Weiss still looked a little bit confused about the whole thing and was next to speak up. "Why did he talk only after you promised that Samantha was alive?"

"She apparently worked in that building that the ADN bombed." Josiah said.

Sydney leaned over to her husband. "She failed to mention that." Vaughn nodded in agreement. He still looked a little shaken from whatever had happened.

"Her name was among the many that were declared dead," Josiah explained. "Everyone thinks that Samantha was dead. We made sure he knew that Samantha had to remain to be thought dead. He agreed, although he didn't understand. When we asked why he did such a thing, Henriques said that Samantha would refuse to talk about her past. So he assumed that there were skeletons that needed to be kept covered. He loves Samantha like a daughter, he didn't want to see her hurt."

Kendall was looking bored, but still pleased with the young agents' presentation and performance. However, boredom still seemed to be his main thought. He was luckily saved by his pager going off. He looked down and then he jumped up. "I assume that you have a more detailed report?" The three nodded. "Good." Kendall then grabbed his file and left. It was everyone else's cue to leave as well.

The second Sydney and Vaughn were out of the room, he dragged her to the flirting corner. "What happened?" Sydney demanded as he led her to their corner.

"Samantha has run away." Vaughn said not bothering to break the news to his wife gently, as if it wouldn't have made any difference.

"What? When?" Sydney's face was full of worry and fear.

"I was even there." Vaughn said furrowing his brow and rubbing his forehead with his fingers. "Every morning the nurse comes in at about 8:50 to check her vitals and some other things. The nurse went in and I stepped out, as was requested. I hear a crash, and I run in. The nurse had been thrown up against the wall. While I checked to make sure she was OK, Samantha was out the door. I ran after her, but she was too quick. She slipped through the other agents' fingers. Security couldn't catch her. I don't know where she is, or where she could have gone, or what happened. The nurse was still out when I left the hospital."

"Looks like she had an outburst/episode?" Sydney said.

"But why?" Vaughn said. "Did the nurse say something or what?"

"We have to find her, and fast." Sydney said. "Our only agents were inside the hospital. And if no one got her, she's unprotected. The ADN could easily get her when she's not thinking straight. And physically-"

Vaughn cut her off and pulled her into a hug. "I know."

"We better go find her." Sydney said.

"I already informed Kendall. He said as soon as we were done with the meeting."

"Well, that meeting could have been skipped. This is more important. Why don't you take your car and look for her, and I'll take mine. We can cover more ground that way."

Vaughn nodded in agreement. "I'll also call up her old high school friends. Chances are that if she has snapped out of it, she might try to make contact with Macy and Olivia and that old gang."

As the two walked back to their desks, Sydney tried to plan where she was going to look. Vaughn was right about her old friends. "Michael, the apartment. The old apartment." Sydney suddenly realized.

Vaughn realized that Samantha probably would be there too. "I'll still call Macy and Olivia and you head straight to the apartment."

Sydney grabbed her purse and nearly ran to her car. Several agents tried to get her attention as she dashed out the door, but Sydney just kept walking briskly to the parking garage. She started the car, and drove with one mission in mind. It had been almost five years since she had driven the rout to the old apartment. She and Vaughn sold it and moved to their house on the other side of the city. On the radio, soft 80's music played and outside, cars rushed pass Sydney as other people still clad in business suits and ties dashed off to their next meeting. When Sydney turned onto her old street, she smiled. Although the apartment wasn't in sight yet, the street alone brought her back to the time when her marriage was still fresh and new. It brought her back to the day that Samantha moved in, with just a small suitcase of clothing, and the remnants of Francie's old things in cardboard boxes. And the worry about Samantha flooded over the memories. When Sydney finally passed the bend and could see her old apartment, she breathed a sigh of relief to see a certain dark haired figure sitting on the curb.

Samantha stood up as she watched Sydney pull up beside her. She had changed out of hospital clothing along the way and stood in a pair of jeans and an over-sized t-shirt. Sydney parked the car and got out. She and Samantha embraced each other on the sidewalk. "We were worried about you." She said.

"I don't know what happened." Samantha confessed, the tears were running down her cheeks. "I was talking to Vaughn, then Nurse Mariella came in and after that, I found myself in the middle of downtown. I-I-I didn't know where to go, I was still in my hospital gown, you guys had all moved, all my friends had moved. I didn't know where to go; I didn't even know the name of the hospital I was at. So I came here."

"It's alright, Samantha." Sydney said. "We were just worried."

"I even knocked on the door hoping the people knew where you guys had gone. But no one was home." Sydney got Samantha into the car. It was the first time that Sydney had noticed how Samantha's hands were shaking, as was much of her body, and not from her tears.

"Let's get you to our place." Sydney said with a smile. "I think we're done with the hospital for a while. They were going to check you out at the end of the week anyway."

Samantha only nodded, as she looked around the car, as if looking to see someone else sitting in it. She noticed the car seat in the backseat, juice stains, and cracker crumbs. "That's a new addition. I think it is a little weird seeing a car seat in the back of your car."

"You should see the house then." Sydney added. She was glad to see Samantha calming down. The shakes were slowing down and her tears had stopped. But the frantic face that greeted Sydney was still there. "You said you left the hospital in your gown? Then where'd the outfit come from?"

Samantha looked down and shook her head. "I don't know. I think I stole it. Oh no! I stole something. I have never stolen anything in my life before."

"It was probably something that happened during your episode. It's ok. We'll straighten everything up later once you settle down." Sydney kept one hand on the steering wheel, and let the other one find Samantha's hand and squeezed it tight. "Everything is going to be alright. Are you hungry? There is a great bagel shop just a mile up the road."

Samantha shook her head and just looked out the passenger window. Sydney said no more, and just drove Samantha to the house. Samantha got out and looked at the small house, with the cleanly cut lawn and the tricycle against the white porch. What should have been happiness for her cousin turned to feelings of jealousy and pain. Samantha could feel it burning in her throat, but she suppressed it and instead showed a smile. "This is really great Syd."

As Sydney opened up the front door, she picked up the pile of mail that had been slid through the slot, and turned around to Samantha. She looked around the house and only did a half smile at the sight of it. From her vantage point, she could see the living room, and just behind the living room, was a peek at what once was an office. Instead it had been turned into a playroom for Hayden. It was the one place where Sydney and Vaughn had given up trying to keep clean. As long as the door could be shut, they didn't care what happened in there. But most of the time the door remained open, and Samantha had a peek into it. She saw the living room and a few scattered toys where Hayden preferred to play. She liked to play in the middle of everything, rather than tucked away in a room on the first floor.

Sydney looked a little embarrassed at the overall mess. A few piles of papers and mail sat at one end of their dining room table, and the kitchen still had breakfast dishes out.

"Michael and I were going to get your room ready this weekend, so unfortunately we still only have two bedrooms. But if you'd like to rest, you're welcome to our bed. Or if you want to watch TV, that's good too. I'll call Michael, and let the hospital know that you're checking out a couple days early. I think that they'll say no to any running around or anything like that." Sydney added with a grin.

Samantha looked around the house. "Actually, I think a nap sounds great."

Sydney nodded, and showed Samantha up the stairs. From the top of the stairs, you could see much of the rest of the house. "You'll be in here, once we clear everything out." Sydney said, showing her the office. "But for now, here's our room." Samantha didn't say anything as she curled up on the large bed, her back facing Sydney. Sydney figured it was best to leave Samantha alone, and just shut the door behind her.

After shutting the door, Sydney took off her work shoes, and set them next to the door, walking almost silently through the quiet house. It was a rare thing for her to have the house to herself. Someone was almost always around. Sydney picked up the phone and immediately called Vaughn. "Michael, I found her." She said.

Vaughn breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news. "Good. Where was she?"

"At the apartment. She was so lost."

"Where are you now?"

"We're back at the house. I figured that she would do better here now. The doctors were going to release her in a couple days, and I think getting her back into an environment away from doctors and nurses might help a little bit."

"I think so too. Except for the one minor detail," Vaughn started.

Sydney smiled and finished for him. "We don't have a bed for her." She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. "She's resting in our room right now. And I'm going to take the rest of the day off and clean out the office. I'll stick boxes into the garage for now,"

"I won't park there tonight." Vaughn assured her.

"I'm already on the driveway." Sydney added. "I'll need your help moving the desks and bookshelves. And then when you get home, and after dinner, we can pick up that bed from Eric and Lindsay's."

"Sounds good. How is Samantha doing by the way?"

Sydney lowered her voice, as if Samantha could over hear her from upstairs. "She's really shaken. She doesn't know what happened. One minute she was in the hospital and the next minute she was in the middle of downtown. I found her sitting on the curb by our old apartment, because she didn't know where else to go, or who to call and she had a vague recollection of where she was and how to get anywhere."

"That is understandable. I was on my way back to the hospital in case she showed up there, but I'll turn around and head back to the office." Vaughn said, as Sydney suddenly realized that she could hear the sounds of cars around him.

"No, wait. We need to find out what happened in that room. Stop by the hospital and talk to Nurse Mariella - that's the name Samantha gave me - and see if there is some sort of video feed from that room."

"No need Syd." Vaughn said. "The agents tasked to follow Samantha are already doing all of that. I think the fact that someone who was recovering from surgery and being shot was able to escape them hit them in the heart."

"Judging from the memory lapse, and the fact that the nurse had been thrown against the wall, I am sure that this was an episode."

"The only question is, what triggered it?"

Sydney took a deep breath. "When Samantha wakes up, I'll see what I can find out. We might also see if Barnett can make a house call. But no regression therapy yet. I'm thinking bad idea right now. She is in such a state of mental distress."

"If I run into Barnett at the office I'll ask."

"Don't bother. I'll give her a call."

"Alright. I'll see you later honey."

"Yes. I love you Michael."

"I love you too Sydney."

Sydney hung up the phone and set it back on the charger. She looked around the living room, and picked up a few of Hayden's forgotten toys, and brought them upstairs. She gently tossed them onto the princess themed bed, and went down the hall to the office. Empty, collapsed boxes sat on one side of the room, signs that they had planned to get to the room eventually. Sydney took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and folded out one of the boxes.

Samantha tried so hard to close her eyes, but they wouldn't close. She could hear Sydney put the boxes together and put all the books into the boxes next door, but she couldn't dwell on the fact that she was making Sydney work more than she needed to. Normally, the first thing that would have come to Samantha's mind was how she was an inconvenience to her cousin and her cousin's family.

Things were different today. Something Samantha hadn't felt in a long time was keeping her from taking a nap. All Samantha could think about was the guilt. She felt guilty for feeling jealous about the life Sydney and Vaughn had. It was the life that she and Christopher would talk about. The small house, the perfect yard, the kids, the midnight dancing under the stars as they had done every night since they met. It was everything she had dreamed of. Life wasn't what they had planned, and Samantha now found herself alone in someone else's dream life. And she was jealous. She was jealous of her own cousin. Which only made her feel more guilty. The guilt turned to sadness over a fallen dream and a lonely dance under the endless stars.


	6. Chapter 6

Night had fallen when Samantha finally woke up. It took her forever to fall asleep, but once she did, it was a deep slumber. Very quietly and carefully, she got out of bed. She could hear Hayden playing somewhere in the house and Sydney banging something around, and Samantha decided to go looking for Sydney or Vaughn. She peaked in every room she went past until she found one with several boxes out side of it. "Sydney?" She said as she saw Sydney sitting on the floor, dismantling a large bookshelf.

Sydney looked more than happy to put down the screwdriver and greet her cousin. "Hey Sam. Have a nice nap?"

Samantha nodded. "Yeah. Thanks so much for doing this for me. What time is it?"

"Nearly 7:30. I've already fed Hayden, but Michael is picking up the bed, and a pizza or Chinese for us. I assumed you wouldn't want pasta. For that matter, Michael and I don't want pasta again. Are you hungry?"

"No." Samantha said quietly, looking around the office. Many of the pictures that were on the walls were still there, and Samantha smiled looking at some of the old familiar ones, that had been in the old apartment, but there were even more new ones. Samantha looked at several pictures of Hayden, a couple of Sydney's father, but Samantha had never seen the places that the pictures were taken at, so she quickly skimmed over them and continued on. She stopped and smiled when she saw some photos she remembers being taken. There were the old ones of Sydney and Vaughn, and Samantha smiled at the wedding pictures. "You know, I was there. For the wedding. I stood in the back and watched the whole thing." She said, pointing to one of Sydney and Vaughn standing at the altar.

Sydney looked up from the bookshelf. "I know. I'm sorry, but thats where we picked up your trail. Plus, a couple years ago, Carie told me."

Samantha laughed a little. "I figured." She looked as Sydney struggled to get two pieces of the bookshelf to separate. "Do you need any help with that?"

"First off, you just had surgery. I don't want you to injure yourself by helping me with this stubborn bookshelf. Second, I can do this on my own. I am a spy. I can figure these things out." Sydney added with a smile.

"Well, if you're sure." Samantha teased.

Samantha stopped dead in her tracks when she came across another small photo. She picked it up off the wall to get a closer look at it. "Graduation day." She said with a smile looking at the photo. She was still in her blue robe, with her arms around both Sydney and Vaughn.

Sydney put down the screwdriver and stood up to look at the photo with Samantha. "The last one taken before you left." Sydney said. "I am rather fond of it."

"I can see why. It's a good one of you." Samantha teased. "Oh and Vaughn. Me, I don't know, I look kind of funny."

"You knew you were running. When I see this picture, I see someone so proud that they made it through high school, but also so frightened by what she knew she was about to do."

Samantha put the picture back on the wall. "Maybe you're right."

"We have the rest of the roll somewhere in this room. We may have already boxed it. A lot of the pictures have already been boxed that were in here. If you like we can dig through and try to find them. There are a lot of you and your friends on that roll of film."

Samantha wasn't sure how to feel about looking at pictures of the life she ran from. But she slowly nodded and smiled. "If you don't mind."

There came a crash from the other room, which made Sydney instinctively walk to the to door. "You haven't met Hayden yet. Would you like to?" Sydney said, pausing at the door.

Samantha thought about it for a split second. The only thing she wanted to do was get out of the perfect life that Sydney and Vaughn seemed to share. This was the life she had always dreamed of with Christopher, and it was being flaunted in front of her. "Yeah. Sure."

She followed Sydney out of the office and into the next room. Hayden sat in the middle of her room with a large smile upon her face. All around her was a pile of blocks, dolls and trains. She was wearing a princess dress and a cowboy hat. Sydney saw the image and tried so hard not to laugh. "What happened honey?"

"I was building a bridge so that Molly could go across the train and join me for coffee and Panda and Bear, and Ziggy and Mimi were coming too and then and then the bridge fell, and blocks fell on Molly and Molly died." Hayden said.

From underneath he pile of bricks Sydney pulled out Hayden's favorite doll, Molly. "Molly died, did she?"

"Yes. But I'll take her to the hospital and she'll be alive again!" Hayden said with a smile. She took the doll from her mother's hands and hugged her tight.

Samantha lingered in the doorway, watching everything. "Hayden, come here. I want you to meet my cousin Samantha."

"The one with the big boo-boo?"

Samantha and Sydney both laughed a little. "Yes. Come on in here Sam." Samantha cautiously walked into the room, careful not to step on any of the fallen blocks or toys. "Sam, this is Hayden. Hayden, this is your Aunt Samantha."

Samantha was overcome with such strong emotions. Hayden looked like her father, except for the eyes. Samantha could tell that Hayden had her mother's eyes. Here was this perfectly innocent child standing shyly behind her mother. Hayden had done nothing wrong except be there, looking adorably cute with her pigtails and pink shirt. But all Samantha could see, was the failed life that she and Chris were going to have. She and Chris were supposed to have the little girl, or boy. Neither one cared which came first. Chris was gone now. Hayden didn't know a thing about Chris or Samantha, but Samantha couldn't help but associate this innocent girl to the evil that the Andadores da Noite had forced her to live.

But Samantha also saw Sydney's pride. Sydney was so proud of her little girl, and smiled just at the sight of Hayden standing there with a doll in her hand. It took all of Samantha's will power to not bolt for the door. Getting along with Hayden, no matter how much she resented the girl, was something that was important to Sydney. And if something was important to Sydney, than Samantha had to make an effort. Maybe she'd actually learn to like Hayden as a niece, rather than something that only proved her skill in killing her fiancé. Samantha took a deep breath, smiled and stepped forward.

Hayden got shy suddenly, and buried her head into her mother's shoulder. "Hi there Hayden. I'm glad to meet you. Your mommy and daddy have told me so much about you. Your mother tells me you like to build things?" Samantha tried. Sydney had never mentioned such a thing, but noticing the Duplos and blocks lying everywhere, Samantha could only assume.

Hayden pulled her head out of her mother's shoulder. And nodded. "My bridge fell down." She quietly said. She was still hiding behind her mother, but her deep brown eyes were not taken off of Samantha, carefully examining the dark haired woman.

"Can I help you build a new one?" Samantha offered, getting down to eye level with Hayden.

Slowly Hayden nodded. She turned her back to her mother and Samantha, and sat down on the floor, ready to start fresh on the bridge. Samantha took Hayden's cue and sat next to her, while Sydney stood up. Hayden seemed a little reluctant to play with Samantha at first, but it wasn't long before she was offering the red bricks. Sydney also watched Samantha, who seemed very uncomfortable with the whole situation. There was something that was bothering Samantha, Sydney could tell. But she wasn't going to pry then, or ever. If Samantha had a problem, she would tell Sydney it. Sydney walked around the room, picking up stray pieces of clothing from where Hayden had played dress-up that afternoon, and put the clothing where it belonged. She then sat down to watch Hayden and Samantha play.

Almost anyone that had come in contact with Hayden said that she was adorable. Sydney had to agree. Even if she wasn't Hayden's mother. Minus the picky eating deal, Sydney felt that she had been very lucky for her first child. Hayden had an amazing way with people. She was always extremely shy at first, but it did not take long for her to warm up. Just half an hour with the girl was sometimes all it took for her to act as if she knew someone brand new her entire life. And Sydney loved watching Hayden and Samantha attempt to build a bridge for the dolls to walk across. Every time Hayden's bridge fell, she would laugh, and look at Samantha and shake her head with the largest smile.

"I'm going to go finish up in the guest room." Sydney sad, as she stood up. "Do you guys want to keep playing in here?"

"Yes." Hayden said.

"You mind Sam?" Sydney asked.

Samantha thought on it for a minute before shaking her head. What was a couple hours with the little girl? She could handle it. She was a mature adult, and as long as Hayden didn't ask what was wrong, Samantha felt pretty confidant that she wouldn't be able to hurt the little girl. She was too cute.

"Thanks Sam." Sydne said as she walked out of the room to finish in the old office. She could hear Hayden laughing as she and Samantha warmed up to each other.

"Syd?" Vaughn's voice called out.

"Upstairs." Sydney called back, meeting him as she came downstairs. Vaughn had set several bags of assorted Chinese food down on the kitchen counter, and went to the stairs. "Hey." He greeted, kissing his wife.

"Hey. I got some Chinese."

"Yum."

"Is Sam up yet?"

Sydney nodded, and opened the bags, smelling the contents within. "She's upstairs playing with Hayden. Did you get the bed?"

Vaughn nodded, taking a bite out of an egg roll. "Yeah. Steffan and Weiss have got it in Steffan's truck. There was some room in the truck and our car, so there are some other things that Samantha had. Steffan and Weiss are making a stop by Weiss' to get some stuff that Weiss picked up from São Paulo. And to grab some beer. I'll get everything out of the car after dinner. I am starving."

"Don't make this a night." Sydney said, as she made a move to the stairs.

"We won't. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to tell Samantha that dinner is here." Sydney found Hayden and Samantha sitting on the floor, making a bridge for the animals to walk over. "Sam, Michael just got back with some Chinese. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah." Samantha said. "We'll finish this bridge later." Samantha promised.

Hayden, smiled and nodded, putting a red brick on top of a blue one. "Hayden, you need to come downstairs and play now."

"Why?" Hayden asked without looking up.

"So Mommy and Daddy can keep a closer eye on you. Come on sweetheart." Sydney offered her hand, and without a further protest, Hayden took it and went down the stairs with her mother. Samantha was digging into the bags, and Vaughn had a plate out already, and was putting some mushrooms and beef onto a pile of rice. Hayden ran to her toys that were scattered in the living room, while the three adults sat at the table. "Vaughn, what happened this morning? I didn't hurt you, did I?" Samantha asked.

Vaughn shook his head. "I don't know. The nurse was the only one that saw what happened, and she is so scared that she is not talking. I'm going to go into work tomorrow and see what Umber and Mathews turned up today."

"Those two?" Sydney complained under her breath. "What about Josiah? He was actually competent."

Vaughn laughed. "His grandma died in New York yesterday. He took off the second the debrief was over."

"Mommy, I'm hungry." Hayden said, coming over and hanging on her mother's arm.

Sydney put her fork down and looked at the little girl. "You just ate. Are you sure you're still hungry?" Hayden nodded. "I'm not going to make you anything. You can have some of what Mommy, and Daddy and Aunt Sam are having."

Hayden looked at the food and shook her head. "I want Macaroni!"

"There's none left." Sydney lied.

"Are you sure you don't want some of this? It's yummy." Samantha offered, showing Hayden some of her Chicken Lo Mein."

Vaughn immediately leaned over to warn Samantha that her efforts were futile, when Hayden did the same thing, only to get a closer look at the food. By the time Vaughn realized that Hayden was nodding on for the food, he and Sydney were holding their breath. If she liked it, it could be the start of something wonderful. If she didn't, they knew exactly the kind of fit that she would have. Hayden held open her mouth, and Samantha put a small fork full of noddles into the girl's mouth.

"Yummy." Hayden said.

"You are my new best friend." Vaughn said.

"You want more of that Hayden?" Sydney asked. Hayden nodded enthusiastically. Sydney pulled the container over, and used her chopsticks to put some on her plate. "Come here honey, you can use my plate." Hayden jumped onto her mother's lap, and picked up the fork and ate the noodles. "I just cannot believe you're still hungry."

Hayden didn't answer. "I'm proud of you Hayden." Vaughn tried. But Hayden only smiled at her father. The sound of a rumbling truck made Hayden turn her attention towards the door.

"Who is here Mommy?" Hayden asked turning her head to look up at her mom.

"Uncle Eric and Steffan."

"Uncle Eric!" Hayden said, dropping her fork and running to the door to greet her uncle.

"You know, we're never going to be able to get her to eat that again." Vaughn said.

Sydney smiled at Samantha. "Without you, I don't think she would have eaten that. Big step for her. Thanks."

"Picky eater?"

"Pasta and cheerios." Sydney said.

"We come bearing gifts!" Weiss announced, coming through the door with beer in one hand, and Hayden on the other leg. He immediately went through the kitchen and to the table. Hayden detached herself from his leg, and went and sat down in her mother's lap, but the plate of Chicken Lo Mein was forgotten in seeing her uncle.

"You guys only use me for my truck. Admit it. You only like me because I own a truck." Steffan said, sitting down at the table.

"Alright. You got us." Vaughn said.

"Samantha! It has been a long time since I've seen you! How have you been?" Weiss said. From his seat next to Samantha, he gave her an awkward half hug.

"I've been better. I guess." Samantha said with a small smile.

"I'm Steffan."

"He plays hockey with us. Joined our team a couple years ago." Vaughn explained to his friend. "This is Sydney's cousin Samantha. She's the one you guys got the bed for."

Steffan smiled. No one had told him that Sydney and Vaughn actually had a guest for their guest room. Let alone someone he happened to think was beautiful. Being terribly shy, he only smiled and blushed.

Samantha pushed her dark, long hair behind her ear, and took another bite of her food. She was feeling more than overwhelmed. Sydney could see Samantha sitting there, looking both tired and and embarrassed. "You done Mike?" Sydney asked. "We should get the bed in there soon. Sam has had a busy day. I'm sure she wants some rest."

"Almost. Are you done in there?"

"Just have the bookshelf pieces in there." Sydney said. She set Hayden on the floor and began to clear the plates a little bit.

Hayden ran over to Weiss's lap. He was in the middle of taking a sip of his beer, when she tackled him in the lap. "Omph." He said with a smile. "Hayden, what are you doing to me?" Every time Weiss was over, he and Hayden would go over the same song and dance, which delighted both of them. He reached over and tickled her stomach. Hayden squealed with delight, and Weiss stood up. "If you guys excuse me. I have a niece to catch, and tickle."

By the time the bed was in the room, Samantha and Hayden had returned to playing in Hayden's room. Sydney, Vaughn and Weiss insisted that Samantha not help with the room, they did not want to see her injure her self so soon after her operation. She had begun to feel the effects of her nap wearing off, and Hayden was also getting tired when Sydney and Vaughn came into the room. "It's ready. Well mostly. There are a bunch of boxes of your things that we thought you'd like to unpack."

"My things?"

"A lot of your things that were in your room from before you left were just put into storage when we moved. We pulled them out. I understand that they're mostly high school, but they might tie you over. And Weiss grabbed some of your things when he was covering your tracks in Brazil. Go check it out." Sydney said, motioning to the door with her head.

Hayden sat on the floor and yawned. "You missy, need to get ready for bed." Sydney said, picking her daughter from the floor. Unlike normal, Hayden didn't protest as Sydney carried her to the bathroom to brush her teeth. "You had a busy day today, didn't you Sweetheart?" The girl nodded. "Do you like Aunt Sam?" Again Hayden sleepily nodded.

Meanwhile, Vaughn and Samantha were in the room. Samantha saw that it wasn't much more than a desk, a bed, and a small bookcase. There was a pile of moving sized three boxes sitting in the corner of the closet. "We sold most of your clothing, and books. You didn't have too much. Your car too. Sorry if you needed that. So most of what is left in those boxes are your pictures, some of your pigs, and your CDs."

"Thanks. This should be good."

"Oh, and there's this box." Vaughn said. On top of the desk, was a smaller box.

Samantha pulled back the flaps, and found some carefully wrapped pigs. "These are from my apartment in São Paulo."

Vaughn nodded. "Sydney requested that a few of them be taken back."

Samantha picked up one of the pigs from the middle of the box. It was the size of her fist, and was a dark blue. Little stars had been painted on it. Samantha held it gently in her hands, putting the rest of the pigs down by the other boxes. "If you need anything, let us know. We're just down the hall." Vaughn said, deciding to leave Samantha alone. Samantha did not register what he had said. She kept her focus on the pig, which seemed to stare back at her.

It was her favorite pig. For as long as she could remember, Samantha had collected pig figurines. Her collection had been started over several times now, and of all of her collections, this blue pig was her favorite. Christopher had given it to her. For her birthday. He had spent several days trying to carve and paint it. His face when she had found in his garage the many, many trials before that one pig. Each one seemed to be getting better, but Samantha laughed when she picked up one with five legs.

"Five legs Chris?" She joked. Holding it up for him.

"You were supposed to know that I got it right on the first try."

She found another pig underneath the tire of the unused car. "Chris? How come this one looks like an elephant?" To keep her from criticizing more of his efforts, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into a kiss.

Samantha put the final blue pig on the desk, and climbed into bed, facing the pig. She felt the warm tears roll down her cheeks, forming a small pool on her pillow. She waited until she thought she had heard everyone go to bed, before she she quietly climbed out of bed. There was not a light on anywhere in the house, except for a small, dim light coming from Sydney and Vaughn's room, a night light in Hayden's room, which barely illuminated the hallway, and another one in the bathroom for Samantha's benefit. Without being noticed, one of her specialties, she quietly slipped out the door, and into the night.

Samantha quietly shut the door behind her, hoping that she wouldn't wake the house. It was late for her to return, and she was sure that everyone was asleep already. She had been gone a couple of hours, and when she left, she figured that Sydney and Vaughn were already asleep. What she found instead was Sydney sitting on the couch, reading. "Hey, where'd you go?" Sydney asked.

Samantha walked into the living room, and stood behind the couch. "Just for a walk. I couldn't sleep. What are you doing up?"

"I don't work at all on Saturday and Sunday. Since I missed this afternoon at work, I'm just doing some paperwork. Vaughn doesn't work on the weekends either, but he's making a special case for you tomorrow.. You were gone for a couple hours. Where'd you go?"

Samantha joined Sydney on the couch. "Chris' family owned a large coffee farm about two hours north of São Paulo. We'd go there when we needed a break, for a weekend most of the time. But there was this hill, in the middle of a field. And it overlooked this valley that was mostly Chris' dad's. At the bottom of the valley, there were these few houses that belonged to the tenant farmers. Chris' dad put a small two person bench, and he has been clearing a path to the bench, through the coffee bushes, for years. Chris and I would go out there, to the bench, at night and sit on that bench for hours and hours. It is so isolated there, that you can see every star that is up in that sky.

"He proposed to me on that spot. He convinced one of the families to play their music just loud enough that it would slowly reach us on the hill. There wasn't a whole lot of room for our dancing, but we were there all night. Dancing to the music, even after the family turned it off. If there were nights Chris and I would spend apart, I would stick my head out the window or take a walk during the night, and look at the few starts that fought through the lights of the city. I would feel happy and comforted knowing that he was out there, looking up at the sky, thinking of me.

"I went for a walk tonight to find the stars. But the lights here are too bright. I couldn't see any. So I kept walking, because I had a vain hope that I would find a small field or clearing somewhere, but I couldn't find any. All I found was a spot where I could catch a glimpse of a few stars. But I found little comfort in them. Because I know, this time, Chris isn't looking up thinking of me, and that I am all alone in this infinite universe, and not even the stars can help but be swallowed up by mankind."

"Sam, you're not alone. You've got me, and Michael, and Hayden has taken a likeing to you as well. You know, after Danny was killed I felt the same way. I thought that I could never go on, and I really had never felt so cold and alone. Look at me. I am just as happy as I thought I was going to be with Danny."

"Do you still love him?"

Sydney hesitated. "Yes. But I love Michael so much, and the biggest differences between Danny and Michael, is that Michael is here. I realized after about a year, that I couldn't keep praying that someday Danny would come back, to love me. I realized that he just wanted to see me happy. If Chris loved you, then he would want to see you happy."

"He would have done anything to make me happy. Once, because I was feeling a little sad, about God knows what, a bad week at work or something, he drove me out of the city a little ways and he showed me some stars."

"That explains the pig."

"What?"

Sydney smiled. "I guess it is the Mom in me. But when I came downstairs to work, I peaked into your room. The only thing you had unpacked was a pig with stars on it."

"He gave it to me for my birthday. I haven't always loved stars."

"I don't remember you having a particular fondness for stars before."

"I was in Germany. The middle of some countryside. And I was done walking for the night, so I laid down in the middle of this field, protected by these huge plants, I don't even know what they are. It was a summer's night, and I put my head on my jacket and looked up. You could see the whole universe. And I felt so small, and so big all at the same point. I think that's really when I began to fall in love with the stars. I look up at the stars, and it is the only time I feel like myself, and I don't even know who that is. I have lived so many personae, and lived a life of running for so long, that the stars, and Chris put me in place."

Sydney pressed her lips, struggling to find the words to comfort her cousin. But the words wouldn't come. Samantha found it was enough comfort just seeing someone sit across from her. "I'm going to go to bed. I'm pretty sure the doctors wouldn't be too happy with me taking long walks like that."

"No they wouldn't."

Samantha left Sydney still sitting on the couch, and went upstairs. The pig was still next to her bed. This time, with one last look at the pig, Samantha closed her eyes and pictured Christopher and the stars.


	7. Chapter 7

"How did Kendall take the mission?" Vaughn said when he saw Sydney returning to her desk.

"He's moved our time table after he saw my proposal. We've got wheels up at 10 tonight." Sydney answered, packing up her things. "I'm going to pick Hayden up from Wendy's and then I'm going to pack."

Vaughn nodded. "What about Samantha?"

"She knows the plan, but has more work to do here. Can you take her home?"

"Not a problem."

"Alright. I am out of here. Anything you need me to do on the way home?" Vaughn shook his head. Sydney walked over to his desk. "I'll see you at home." She said, kissing him quickly and leaving.

Hayden was in the backseat singing a nonsense song to herself as Sydney pulled into the drive way. Grabbing both the girl and briefcase Sydney walked inside. Hayden squirmed her way out of her mother's arms, and ran to her toys still scattered on the living room floor. "Honey, do you want to help me pack?" Sydney asked.

The girl put down her doll and ran to her mother's side. "Where are you going Mommy?" She demanded.

"I have to go with Aunt Sam to get something in a different country." Sydney tried to explain as she and Hayden walked up the stairs hand in hand.

"I don't want you to go." Hayden protested.

"I have to. For work. Daddy will still be here. You get Daddy to yourself." Sydney tried, knowing how much Hayden loved her father.

"No." Hayden said.

Sydney set the girl on the bed and walked over to the closet where her old suitcase was collecting dust. She had been on trips before, but they were still few, and often the suitcase just sat in the closet. Leaving Hayden was always a challenge. "Yes." Sydney opened the suitcase and walked over to the dresser.

Hayden began crying. "I don't want you to leave." She declared, closing the suitcase.

Sydney put down the suit she was carrying and went over and picked up Hayden who was now standing on the bed. "Honey, I'll come back. I promise." Hayden continued to sob into her mother's shoulder.

"No."

"Sweetheart, I have to go for work. I'll be back, and when I come back, you and I can do something special, just the two of us. Ok?"

Hayden looked a little bit reluctant to let her mother go, but finally agreed. "Promise?" She said as she dried her eyes.

"I promise you. Come on, help Mommy pack." Hayden nodded and jumped off the bed, and went into the closet. She pulled five shoes out of the closet and put them into the suitcase, very proud of her accomplishment. Sydney saw the odd assortment of shoes, none of which were an actual pair, and tried to figure out the best way to take out the red heals, the clog, the winter boot, the running shoe, and one of the shoes that she had to buy to match a bridesmaid dress. "Honey, I'm only going to need my tennis shoes and my black shoes that I keep by the dresser. Could you get me those?" Sydney tired.

Hayden ran to the closet and grabbed one of each shoe, and then ran back to get the others, two pairs. But what she didn't do was grab the shoes out of the suitcase. "What else?"

Sydney bit her bottom lip trying not to laugh. She could just picture herself showing up at the Henriques' coffee plantation, wearing the red heal and the running shoe. "How about you get my toothbrush." Sydney said. She had already laid out her shirts and pants next to the suitcase, and while Hayden was in the bathroom, she quickly got all of the miscellaneous shoes out of the suitcase, put her pants and shirts in, covering the shoes. Hayden would never know the difference.

Without too much interference otherwise, Sydney and Hayden finished packing. Hayden sat on the suitcase and Sydney zipped it shut. There was no need to have Hayden sit on it, the suitcase still had room to spare, but on every trip that she or Vaughn had taken, Hayden had sat on the suitcase while it was shut. "Now that that's done, lets make dinner. What do you want?"

"Um..." Hayden thought on it for a minute. "Spaghetti."

Sydney sighed. "How about something else? You liked the Chinese we had the other night. How about you try something new?" Hayden shook her head. "It will have noodles in it."

Sydney promised. Hayden thought for a second before slowly shaking her head. "It is one of Aunt Sam's favorite foods." Sydney tried again. They had spaghetti the night before. Hayden still shook her head. "How about just plain noodles? I'll make the sauce for Daddy, Aunt Sam and me, but you can have noodles. Ok?"

"'K. Can I help cook?"

Sydney and Hayden were in the kitchen, frying the hamburger meat when Vaughn and Samantha came home. "Hi Daddy! Hi Aunt Sam!" Hayden said, jumping down from her stool and running to greet her father and Samantha. Sydney picked up the spoon that Hayden had dropped off the floor and smiled.

"How was your first day Sam? I haven't seen you since lunch." She greeted. Hayden had run back to the kitchen, and pushed her way back to stirring the beef, with Sydney closely supervising.

Samantha shrugged. "It was alright. I've signed my name so many times that it looks foreign. I mean more foreign than normal. I just now am getting used to Daily again. I'm going to go pack."

"I left you a suitcase in your room you can use." Sydney said.

"Thanks." Samantha said before going up stairs to her room.

"Hey." Vaughn said, coming over to give Sydney a kiss and a hug.

"Hey yourself. How is the connection to Stoppa going?"

Vaughn sighed and leaned against the counter. "He had to have known who Samantha really was. We went all the way through his Alliance files, and he had JIP info on file. He obviously knew who the children were. We just cannot find the connection between Stoppa and Henriques. I am actually leaning towards an unfortunate connection."

"What?" Sydney asked, as she put some chopped onions into the pan. She was still carefully guarding Hayden, as Hayden turned the spoon around the frying pan.

"They were doing business before Christopher and Samantha started dating." Vaughn explained.

"Which means that Stoppa probably didn't know that Samantha was who she was until later, and it was just by chance that she was dating his business partner's son."

"Exactly."

Sydney just sighed and shook her head. She picked Hayden off of her stool, and put her onto the floor. Hayden tried to climb back up to help her mother cook more, but Sydney put her back on the floor. "Go play for a second Sweetheart. Daddy and I have to talk about grown up stuff." Hayden nodded and ran to the living room. "Vaughn, have you noticed that Samantha has been really quiet, and depressed?"

Vaughn nodded. "But what can we do? I mean she's already seeing Barnett, and if Barnett doesn't catch it, then there is nothing to worry about."

"But she's being sent into the field so soon. She's been in the CIA for a day, and already being sent on a mission."

Vaughn came over and put his arms around Sydney's shoulder. "Samantha needs to do this for herself. Remember, she volunteered herself for the job."

Sydney nodded. "Set the table, would you please?" Sydney said, handing her husband four plates. Vaughn dutifully walked over to the table, and as soon as the table was set, he was attempting to pull Hayden away to wash her hands. Sydney set the finished stroganoff onto the table, and went upstairs to get Samantha. "Hey hungry?" She asked walking quietly into the room.

Samantha was sitting on her bed. Her suitcase was still open, with a few bits of clothing carefully folded in it, but was not close to finishing. She was just starting at her pigs. Sydney had found her like that several times before, but generally there were tears streaming down Samantha's face. This time however, Samantha just looked pensive staring at the pigs. "Syd?"

"Yeah?"

"My stuff, from São Paulo, can we get to it while we're down there?" Samantha asked.

Sydney sighed. She thought Weiss had brought everything of importance back with him, but if there was something big left behind, she knew that Samantha would want it. Only problem was, the stuff was all in a Brazilian government storage unit, which was guarded. It was all still evidence. "It would be extremely difficult, but if it is important, we can figure something out. What is it that you want?"

Samantha shook her head. "Not want. Need." She said, her voice trailing off.

"What is it?" Sydney prompted.

"I am looking at this pig that my friend bought me and Chris for our engagement, and I remembered something. Chris and I had an engagement party a month after we got engaged. All of our friends and family were there. It was held at Joshua's farm. Joshua is Chris' dad. That includes Stoppa. He was there. He even gave a toast. And I think somewhere in his toast, I think that might have been what tipped me off to who he was. The whole party was recorded and someone made a DVD for us of the party, including the toasts. That DVD was in my apartment."

"I think Weiss brought back a DVD. I remember seeing it in one of the boxes when we took inventory of your things."

"What?" Samantha said. "I mean I thought I had gone through all of the boxes." She immediately walked over to the corner where a stack of empty boxes were haphazardly stacked inside of each other. Sydney stood up and joined her as they double checked under every flap, making sure it didn't slide around.

"Here it is." Samantha finally said, as she picked up the last box.

"Is it the right one?" Sydney asked, even though she knew the answer. The DVD had a picture of Christopher and Samantha on it, with the words "Our Engagement Party" written nicely on it. Samantha only nodded.

"Do you mind if we don't watch it right now?" Samantha asked. She could feel the burn in her throat start, and couldn't handle watching the video right that second.

Sydney put her arm around Samantha. "How about we save it for the plane?" Samantha nodded in agreement. "Ok. How about some dinner? Beef stroganoff."

By the time that Sydney had gotten Hayden to sleep, it was time for her and Samantha to go. After giving Vaughn a list of things that needed to be done, Sydney peaked into her daughter's room one last time. Hayden was sleeping quietly. Her brown hair fell over her face, and her little fists were above her head. Sydney smiled at the beautiful sight. Vaughn came up behind Sydney as Sydney stood watching their daughter. "Come back safe. Hayden wouldn't know what to do without her mother." Vaughn quietly whispered into Sydney's ear, as he put his arms around Sydney's waist, and resting his head on her shoulder. "I wouldn't know what to do without you either."

"Don't worry about me." Sydney said.

"Take care of Samantha, will ya?" Vaughn said with a smile. "I know you will. But she's the only one that got our little girl to eat something besides pasta and bread, and that alone is worth every step Samantha takes." Vaughn added with a careless tone.

"Don't worry. I promise that both Samantha and I will come back fine." Sydney answered, walking into the hall. "I'll be fine. We'll both be fine. I love you."

"I love you too." Vaughn responded. He and Sydney passionately kissed, and then Sydney pushed him away. "You're right." Vaughn breathed. "If you don't leave now, we'll get carried away."

"Save that thought for when I return." She said, as she walked down the stairs, leaving a wordless Vaughn standing in the middle of the hall.

Samantha was already waiting by the garage door when Sydney came down the stairs. "Ready to go?"

Samantha picked up her suitcase. "As I'll ever be."

Sydney and Samantha situated themselves onto the plane. It was a twelve hour flight, and both decided to get a good night's sleep fight. Sydney curled up into a ball in her chair, immediately falling back into her days where she would spend many hours on a plane. Samantha however, stretched out, trying to get comfortable. Unable to, she walked to the other side of the plane and sat down next to the window, to watch the world below. She couldn't figure out how she was going to even approach Joshua. He thought she was dead. She worked in the building that the ADN had bombed in an attempt to kill her again. And after that, he never heard from her again. Josiah, Umber and Mathews told him that she was alive. But he must be mad at her for leaving. He was like a father to her. Still, Samantha was excited to see him again. He was a large man, with an equally large personality.

Samantha didn't even notice drifting off into her dreamless sleep until she heard Sydney calling her name. "Sam?" Sydney called. Samantha opened one eye, and saw Sydney sitting in the seat next to her.

"What's going on?" Samantha asked, waking up, and stretching.

"Breakfast?" Sydney offered, handing Samantha a bagel. Samantha took it and ripped off a piece to eat.

"How much longer?" She asked.

"Another five hours. Are you ready to watch the DVD yet?" Sydney asked carefully.

Samantha turned away from Sydney for a moment and looked out the window. No longer was the world below black, but it was now bright. Samantha slowly turned back to Sydney. "Yes." She said. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Sydney put the DVD into the player and sat down next Samantha. While waiting for the DVD to load, Samantha looked apprehensive about watching it. Sydney saw Samantha's body tense up, but decided not to mention it. "We can probably fast forward to the speeches." Samantha offered. Sydney nodded, and fast forwarded until Samantha instructed her to stop.

"That him? Is that Chris?" Sydney asked, pointing to a man smiling happily pointing to something or someone off camera. He was saying something loudly, but everyone else in the room were talking loudly as well, and it was difficult to hear him.

Samantha nodded. "That's him. He's trying to pry me away from his father so we can do the speeches." Samantha narrated. "I can't remember who is first. It is either Joshua, or it is Stoppa."

Sydney watched as Samantha walked over to her fiancé. Christopher put his arm around Samantha and held her tight, as the camera man moved to get a shot of both the blissful couple and the speaker. "Samantha is someone special." Someone said, getting up onto a makeshift stage out of a couple old crates. Sydney did not recognize the person.

"Thats Joshua." Samantha explained to Sydney. She smiled a little bit. "Do you mind if we watch this one anyway?"

Sydney smiled. "Not at all."

Joshua continued slowly. His English was broken and heavily accented, but he knew, just like his son, how much Samantha felt comfort in hearing her native tongue. "I never think my son will find someone as good as you. Your mother, Christopher, is proud." He said with a smile, looking heavenward. "She smile at both you." When Joshua looked down again, he beamed at the couple and continued on in Portuguese.

Samantha curled up in a little ball on her seat, happily remembering the night. She could taste the bitter taste of the beer. She could hear the music loudly playing on the patio, her feet could still remember the steps to the dance. She could see the smile on Christopher's face. She could feel his hand running through her hair as he kissed her tight. Samantha could feel both her eyes well up, and her blood boil. Part of her wanted to hang on to everything that Christopher was to her: a friend, a lover, a companion, her true love, but the other part knew that she needed to let go, and let Christopher be a pleasant memory often visited. This juxtaposition had been driving Samantha crazy for the past week. But she was so angry at Stoppa for ripping this fairy tale away from her. Just thinking about what happened just eleven days after the movie was shot, caused steam to come out of her ear. She watched everything that Joshua said, but she didn't need to. Samantha practically had every line from that night memorized.

An applause broke Samantha out of her dream-like state. "This should be Stoppa." Samantha informed Sydney. She sat up straight, ready to pay attention to the speech they were both waiting for.

Stoppa stood up on the platform. Sydney shuttered at his presence. He was a tall man, and did not need the aide of the crates to easily see over the heads of most of the people there. But his tall stature did not take away from his hard face. He was smiling when he got the attention of the crowd and it almost looked painful for him to do so. His face did not appear to be built for smiling. Across his forehead, there was a thick dark scar. Sydney would assume that with his height and scar that Stoppa would be an easy man to find. But the man had to many resources, too much money burning a hole in his and every official's pocket.

"I have known Christopher many years. And when Samantha first came into his life, he would come back and just talk and talk about this girl." Stoppa said. The camera panned to Samantha and Christopher, who just watched the speaker unaware of who he really was. "I know that Roberta Samantha Napier had to be one special American. I laughed when Chris told me that Samantha is her middle name."

"There." Samantha said. "I think that tipped me off." Samantha paused the DVD. "If he was on the watch for JIP children, then my name, as Samantha Daily, would have been red flagged. And I stupidly used Samantha as my middle name in my alias when I arrived to Brazil, and then had everyone call me by it. And the fact that I'm an American would have also sent red flags to Stoppa." Samantha explained.

Sydney nodded, and made some notes on her notepad. Samantha started the speech again. "Samantha is one very special girl, with many amazing talents." Samantha looked over at Sydney with an eyebrow raised.

"Self explanatory." Sydney commented, making a few more notes as Stoppa continued to talk.

"She can charm her way around any room, and she did a wonderful job charming her way into Christopher's heart. I almost didn't think it was possible. He was such a stubborn boy. When Christopher turned eight, there was a little girl at his birthday party. And I remember him throwing such a fit, he never wanted to be nice to girls. Samantha, you have come this far taming Christopher, you can do _anything_." Samantha nodded at the video, and nudged Sydney. Sydney pressed her lips together, pushed her hair behind her ear and continued to watch. She didn't keep her eyes off of Stoppa. "To the happy couple!" Stoppa raised his glass, as did the entire crowd. "May only death do you part!" He said taking a sip.

The camera panned to Samantha and Christopher taking sips of their own champagne and smiling at each other. Samantha did not let the next speaker get onto the makeshift stage before she leaned over and turned off the DVD player. Sydney did not press Samantha to watch it again. "I had to have watched that a hundred times to figure that out." Samantha said with a small smile. "But even as he was giving his speech, something felt off. I started watching it as a depressed girl who just lost her fiancé and held onto whatever she had of him. But then the clues started jumping out at me. He had to have just found out about me to make so many obvious mistakes."

Sydney looked over her notes. "He did seem to spell it out for you."

"He also seemed to know that Chris was going to die." Samantha said.

"Do you think he wanted you to go after his men like that? Do you think he wanted them dead?"

"What?"

Sydney turned in her seat to face Samantha. "If he wanted to test your programming out, just to make sure that you were a JIP child, doesn't it make sense that he would bring out your protective side."

"So you think he set those specific men to kill Chris, so that when I retaliated I was not going to be killing anyone important."

"That is exactly what I think." Sydney stood up, walked over to the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. "Samantha, do you remember how long it took you to figure out who pulled the trigger?"

Samantha thought for a minute. "It couldn't have been too long. Chris was only dead two weeks before I got shot. I probably spent the first week mourning him and watching the DVD over and over again. So by the time I figured out who was really behind his murder, I only had a week. And then I would have had to track them down..."

Sydney cut her cousin off. "An unusually short time."

"Especially since I don't have any in country contacts. Actually, I don't have any contacts outside of you and Vaughn. And I was a one woman show."

Sydney sat back down and handed a bottle of water to Samantha. "We are probably falling right into Stoppa's trap."

Samantha leaned back and sighed, the weight of the recent epiphany pressing down on her shoulders. "Syd, if you want to back out now, I understand. I can totally handle Joshua by myself. And if we are walking into a trap, I would really hate to see you hurt."

"No, I'm here."

"But I promised Vaughn before we left that I'd take care of you. Which knowing him you probably made a similar promise to take care of me. But you've got Hayden, and-"

Sydney was quick to cut Samantha off. "I am here. I am going to help you talk to Joshua to find the whereabouts of Stoppa. I am in this. I know the risks. But I also know that I am not going to send you in alone knowing that you might be stepping into a trap."

Samantha nodded. "Thanks Syd. That really means a lot."

Sydney smiled and nodded. "No problem. Plus Kendall would have my head if it turned up in either one of our reports that I didn't go with you."

Samantha laughed. The two continued to catch up for the remainder of the plane trip. In the three short weeks that they had been reunited, Samantha had not been very keen on talking about what she had been up to for the past seven years, so Sydney was thrilled that she was able to open Samantha up a little bit. It was like the days before Samantha began her life on the run. They would sit down on the couch, and just talk about what they did during the day or debate if Melanie should have picked Jake or Andrew in _Sweet Home Alabama_. Sydney just enjoyed hanging out with Samantha. Truth be told, Sydney almost thought Samantha as a sister. They both agreed on the cousin relationship, due to Samantha's strong attachment to Sydney's mother from when she was a child.

The plane landed with an extra bounce, a consequence from the high wind that Sydney could see blowing the trees around outside. The second the plane stopped and pulled up to the gate, Sydney stood up, ready to get off the plane after a very long flight. She grabbed her jacket and her small bag and started moving towards the door. She then noticed that Samantha haddn't moved. She was frozen to her seat. Sydney gently put her bag next to the seat, and her coat on top of it.

Quietly, she moved towards Samantha, and sat down next to her. Samantha was staring out her window. Not at the men servicing the plane, but at the horizon, to the world beyond the airport. "Sam?" Sydney quietly said.

"Yeah?" Samantha asked, as if she almost knew what Sydney was going to say next.

"Are you sure you can do this?"

Samantha took a deep breath and slowly turned away from the window to make eye contact with Sydney. "No, but I am going to do my best."

Sydney nodded. "Are you ready?"

Samantha took a deep breath before standing up and giving Sydney a reassuring smile. "Yes. I am now."

Sydney only nodded. She went back to her bag and jacket and picked them up and walked off the plane. She waited for Samantha briefly just outside the landing strip. Samantha pulled her sunglasses out of her jacket pocket and got into the car, ready to see her fiancé's father, a man she thought of as a father herself, for the first time in more than a month.


	8. Chapter 8

Sydney was on the phone talking to Hayden about the little girl's day as Samantha drove up the hills to the Henriques' coffee plantation. It wasn't long into the conversation that Samantha tuned the mother out, and slipped into the melancholy of the drive. As each mile passed, Samantha got more and more nervous about the up coming meeting. Joseph had treated her like a daughter from the first time that Christopher had brought her home. After the death of his oldest son, he had tried calling to make sure that Samantha was ok. But after the funeral, Samantha stopped picking up, ignoring his calls. She did not deserve the kind of love he was offering her, or at least that was how Samantha thought.

Children coming home from school for lunch lined the roads as Samantha got closer and closer to the plantation. They would stare at the strange care driving up their rural roads. A few recognized Samantha and wooped as she drove past. Samantha would smile and wave. Even though the children got less frequent, they began to wave more and more. By this point, Sydney had hung up and was watching out the window.

"We're getting close then." Sydney commented.

Samantha nodded. "How can you tell?"

"The children seem to know you more."

"Most of their parents work for the plantation."

"Large plantation."

"Everything you see right now belongs to Joseph. He's good to his workers."

The two sat in virtual silence. The quiet whirr of the engine, and the crushing of gravel as they drove were the only things between Sydney and Samantha. Samantha was just too nervous about the impending meeting to talk.

Sydney, for one of the few times in her life, didn't know what to say. She wanted to let Samantha know that everything was going to be alright. Beyond the conversation about the ADN, Sydney could see how nervous her cousin was. There was more pain in her eyes than usual. Was it pain of facing the one she can? Sydney tried to think of the right words to say until suddenly, "Hey Sam, have you thought about letting your hair grow back to its natural color?"

"What?" Samantha was confused, and rightfully so. She could tell that Sydney's wheels were turning and trying to come up with some way to console her, and she asked about Samantha's hair.

"Your natural hair color. Have you thought about growing it out? I don't think I've ever seen it."

Samantha ran her fingers through her long black hair as she pondered what Sydney had said. "I don't even remember what color it was. I am not you Syd," Samantha's voice got louder as she pulled through gates that read the family name of the plantation, "I cannot wear a wig one day, take it off and become myself. I am always someone else. And the thing is, somewhere in the years of hiding myself, I lost it. I was happiest here, in Brazil, where my hair is black. I guess part of me thinks I'll get that happiness if I don't change a thing."

This time Sydney did not have anything to say, so she simply put her hand on Samantha's shoulder and gave the confused woman a squeeze, as if to say 'I am here.' Samantha chose not to say anything, as she pulled the car into the driveway. She parked and looked out the side window. A round face peeked behind a curtain at the strange car. "We should get out. Ana saw us." Samantha said, not even glancing at Sydney's direction. Samantha opened the door, and stepped out. The round face, peaked from around the door frame.

"Samantha!" Came an excited cry. An aging woman came out of the door, her round face showed a hard life. A couple lose gray hair, fallen from a speckled brown and gray bun, framed her face, and a messy white apron protected her blue dress. She came at Samantha at an almost trot, arms extended. Samantha smiled brightly and walked to the woman.

"Ana," Samantha greeted back, embracing Ana. The two lingered in their hug for a moment, before Sydney's shoes on the gravel alerted them to the other woman's presence. "Ana, this is my cousin Sydney." Samantha introduced, speaking plainly in English.

"English? No Portuguese?" Ana asked.

Samantha shook her head. Sydney looked at Samantha with a quizzical look. Samantha knew perfectly well that Sydney spoke Portuguese fluently. Samantha motioned for Sydney to ask her later. "No. Is Joseph around?"

"He is in his office." Ana said. "Lunch?"

"No thank you Ana. We would like to talk to Joseph first."

"Dinner then?"

Samantha smiled. "Of course." Samantha motioned for Sydney to follow her into the house. "Sorry about the Portuguese thing. It would sound suspicious if you were fluent in Portuguese too."

"Understandable." Sydney said. "I thought you said that Christopher's mom had passed." Sydney said quietly, as they walked through the house.

"Ana is just the house keeper. She was like his mother though." Samantha led Sydney outside to a large porch. Sydney had failed to notice on the ride up, that the house sat on the top of a large hill, and from the porch the view was breathtaking. With hills below, covered in coffee plants as far as she could see. Off at the end of the house, was a small room. Samantha rapped quietly at the door, "Joseph?"

Joseph came and answered the door. He stood there for a minute, trying to figure out if he really was looking at Samantha. For a split second, Joseph looked at Sydney, but then he turned his attentions back to Samantha. The three stood in the doorway, just looking at each other, not saying a word. As seconds turned into half a minute, which continually got longer, or so Sydney perceived, she got more and more antsy about allowing Samantha to come down to Brazil and meet with Joseph about Stoppa. But finally Joseph decided that he was standing in front of Samantha, without saying another word, Joseph smiled a little, and motioned for Samantha and Sydney to follow him into his office.

"Joseph." Samantha said with a smile, moving in for a hug. "I've missed you."

"Samantha." Joseph said, saying something at last. He embraced her and smiled. "We thought you were dead. I couldn't believe I was looking at you. I lost my son, and his beautiful fiancé, all in a short time. Why? Why did you leave? You were dead."

Samantha was quiet. "I'll tell you later." She sat down in the chair.

"Who is this?" Joseph asked, looking at Sydney.

Samantha smiled and motioned for Sydney to come forward. "This is my cousin, Sydney."

"Nice to meet you. Samantha has told me such wonderful things about you and your family." Sydney said, extending her hand, which Joseph shook.

"You've been with her all this time?" Joseph asked, turning his attention back to Samantha.

"Mostly yes," Samantha thought quickly. She knew Joseph well enough to know that he would expect some sort of excuse as to why she had left with no notice, but Samantha did not come up with one in a short enough amount of time. Instead, Samantha decided to jump into the mission. "Joseph, Sydney and I are here to ask some questions." Joseph raised his left eyebrow questioningly. "How long have you known Paco?"

"Paco?" Joseph said, with a chuckle. "Why do you want to know about Paco?"

"Please, Joseph, can you answer the question?" Samantha begged.

Joseph thought for a moment, "Almost eighteen years."

Sydney did the quick calculation in her head. Christopher was two years older than Samantha, and if Samantha was twenty-five, then Christopher was twenty-seven. Paco had been around since Christopher was nine. How, Sydney thought, could someone kill a boy he had watched growing up just to unleash a possible violent nature within his fiancé?

"Do you happen to know Paco's last name?" Sydney asked.

"What?" Joseph asked turning to look at Sydney.

"Samantha was trying to tell me his last name and she couldn't recall it. Do you know his name?"

Joseph laughed out loud this time. "No." Sydney was a little bit concerned by the fact that Joseph did not know the name, and he was now laughing. "I don't even know Ana's last name and she has been working for me and living in my house for more than twenty years after Isabella died."

"How did you meet Paco?" Samantha asked.

"What is the meaning of all these questions about Paco? He has been like a brother to me for years. Why, are you asking these questions?"

"Joseph, I can explain later, but for now, I just need to know." Samantha pleaded.

For the first time in their meeting, Joseph realized the serious nature of Samantha's questioning. "He moved into the house up the hill a year earlier. He came down for the party I throw. Everyone comes to the parties. We met there."

"Have you heard of the Andadores da Noite?"

"You must leave now."

"The Andadores da Noite!" Samantha demanded, a little louder this time.

"Why all the questions!" Joseph countered.

"Do you know of the Andadores da Noite!" Samantha leaned on Joseph's desk and got into his face.

"I have seen them in the paper. Rarely though. The reporters who speak of them are killed or die. I do not speak of them. They have ears everywhere. Christopher, he was friends with that reporter!" Joseph suddenly realized.

"Lawrence?" Samantha supplied.

"The Brittish friend."

"Lawrence." Confirmed Samantha.

"Was he looking at the Andadores da Noite? Did he tell Christopher? How do you know about the Andadores da Noite? Why did you bring your cousin with you? Samantha, you must get out!" Joseph suddenly stood up, and began trying to get Samantha and Sydney out of the door. "You must go back to your cousin's house! Get out of São Paulo! Get out of Brazil!"

"Joseph!" Samantha protested.

"Go." Joseph sternly warned. "If the Andadores da Noite even knows your asking people about them they will kill you."

"We know about the deal." Samantha quietly whispered.

"You know." He had been trying to push Samantha down the porch, but when Samantha mentioned the deal, Joseph stopped dead in his tracks. "You cannot know. No."

Sydney decided to step in. "Then men, who came and asked you questions several weeks ago, they were sent by my office."

"What!"

Sydney nodded. "We just want to find out why your son died."

Joseph looked at Samantha. "That is your reason for the questions?" Samantha nodded.

"Paco, you think Paco is connected with the Andadores da Note?"

"We don't know. That's why we asked all those questions."

Joseph took a moment and looked off his porch. Sydney and Samantha followed his gaze. He was looking at a few small homes where his workers lived. "There. That hill somewhere." He said, pointing to a hill off to the left.

"What?" Samantha asked, looking at Joseph then at Sydney when Joseph did not answer her question after several moments. But Sydney nodded with a small smile, hoping that the smile would convey that she understood what Joseph meant. The hill that Joseph pointed to was the hill that he had given for the use of the ADN.

"Samantha, for your sake, leave now." Joseph insisted.

"Alright." Samantha finally agreed.

Joseph breathed a sigh of relief. "I will walk you to the door." In silence the small party walked through the house.

"Tell Ana that we are sorry we will not be here for dinner. But I hope to come back for a more social visit later." Samantha said.

Joseph smiled. "I will. You are always welcome here."

Before exiting, Samantha turned and gave Joseph a hug. "Thank you, Papi."

"Papi?" Joseph said with a smile, "I told you to call me that long time ago, but you never did."

Samantha only smiled, and stepped out the front door. Sydney followed, and Joseph took up the rear. They took several steps towards the car when the sound of a truck speeding up the gravel driveway stopped them dead in the tracks. Sydney instinctively reached for the gun she had hidden underneath her jacket. Her hand rested on the inside of her jacket as to not alert Joseph to her sense of danger. She saw Samantha tense up as if preparing for a battle. Joseph just stood there, ready to welcome a visitor.

The dusty red truck stopped with a halt at the feet of Sydney and Samantha. Both gasped when they recognized who was in the front seat. "Jamie Stoppa." Sydney breathed.

Joseph, a little cautious after the conversation he had just had with Samantha and Sydney, stepped forward with a smile to greet his best friend. "Paco! I believed you were in Rio for the week!"

Stoppa stepped out of the car slowly and turned around to grab something off of the front seat. He said a few words to the young driver, who Sydney guessed could not have been more than eighteen. The driver put on a pair of sunglasses, turned on the radio, and put his head back as if to take a nap. Sydney did a quick assessment of the situation. She fingers were still clasped around her gun, still hidden in her jacket. Samantha's gun was in the car, but she was a good hand to hand fighter and was ready. Stoppa appeared to not have any weapons, but Sydney was willing to be there was at least two guns in the car. Stoppa was cocky, showing up with no backup, and telling the driver to rest while he took care of things. Sydney knew that the odds were currently in favor of her and Samantha, unless something happened to turn the tables, and it all was determined by what Stoppa was doing in the car. She took two quiet steps to her left in a vain attempt to see around the car door.

Stoppa turned around, a machine gun held comfortably in his right hand. Joseph took several steps back, and Sydney pulled her gun out of her jacket, and held it up, aiming at Stoppa. Samantha made a small move towards the car where she had left her gun.

"Don't move Samantha Daily." Stoppa said, aiming the gun at Samantha. "Yes, I know who you really are!"

Samantha put her hands up. "Drop the gun!" Sydney ordered.

"Ah, you must be Sydney Bristow!" Stoppa said, surprising everyone present. "Your work with the Alliance is legendary. The agent that took us all down. You drop your gun." He changed his aim to Sydney, and Sydney's gun hit the gravel and clattered there. She too put her hands up. "You wonder how I knew it was you? I know everything."

"Joseph," Stoppa started changing his aim once again, "you broke your end of the deal."

"Deal?" Joseph asked, nearly oblivious to the fact that his friend Paco was really Jaime Stoppa, the leader of the Andadores da Noite.

"With my men! For use of your hill! You were never to speak of us! TO ANYONE!" Jaime screamed. Sydney saw out of the corner of her eye that Ana had come to the door to see what the commotion was all about. She held her kitchen rag up to her face fearful of the situation. To her advantage Stoppa had not seen her yet.

"I-I-I-I..." Joseph stuttered. But it was too late. Stoppa had pulled the trigger, and several rounds of bullets flew into Joseph's chest. His arms flew back from the impact, and then his whole body teatered for a split second before he fell onto his back in a pool of his own blood. Ana screamed and ran over to Joseph. The tears were falling down her face, and she did not know what to do.

Samantha for a split second froze, before she screamed "PAPI!" Samantha took several steps towards Joseph before Stoppa returned his aim to Samantha. She stopped dead in her tracks, not wanting the same fate as Joseph. Sydney took the split second of Stoppa's full attention being on Samantha to glance down at the gun. It was gone.

"I should have known I couldn't control you." Stoppa said. Samantha was still frozen, halfway between Sydney and halfway between the fallen Joseph. Her hands were up. "Too bad Christopher needed to die to figure that out."

"He was just a man!" Samantha countered. "How could you use him for your sick games! I will kill you."

Stoppa laughed, but still Samantha and Sydney did not move. Ana still was kneeling over Joshua, she was sobbing quietly. Her hands held Joshua's head in her lap, but her eyes were focused on Samantha. "Samantha, Samantha, Samantha. You forget that I am the one holding a gun at you."

Samantha moved her hands behind her back and pulled out a gun. Sydney knew instantly that the gun Samantha was holding was the one that she had thrown down just a minute before. It must have been while everyone was focused on Joshua. Samantha cocked the gun and aimed at Stoppa. "I will kill you, you son of a bitch."

Mutual destruction of the two was just a gun shot away. There were few times in Sydney's career where she was unsure of what to do. Samantha was doing exactly what she would have done, but at the same time Sydney was debating on how to intervene. Samantha was still new, it was her first field assignment, and Samantha was working entirely by emotion.

Sydney stood frozen for two long because before she had a chance to act in any way, two crisp gunshots rang out.

The shot echoed off of the hills, and what birds had settled from the shot that killed Joseph flew off again. Ana screamed in fear and turned her head away, facing the fallen Joseph instead. Stoppa fell backwards, the force of the kickback from his gun. Blood began to ooze out of a small hole in the center of Stoppa's forehead. Sydney looked at Samantha. A pool of blood was beginning to form on her chest as well. Sydney rushed over to Samantha to catch her as Samantha fell backwards. "Sydney." Samantha whispered, pointing to the truck, where the driver was jumping out of the seat with a gun.

This time Sydney didn't hesitate. She reached around her back and pulled out her gun quickly shooting him before he had a chance to finish off anyone else. The driver fell to his knees before falling to his back. Sydney turned her attention back to Samantha. After assessing the fact that Samantha had now been shot twice in the chest in the past month, Sydney put pressure on the bullet wound. This time it was closer to the heart. Sydney was crying, and Samantha was struggling with the pain, but refusing to cry. "You're going to be ok. You'll pull through this." Sydney insisted.

Samantha forced herself to give a weak smile. "Says who?"

"I do. I know you're going to make it through this. You're Samantha. You can get through anything."

"No." Samantha insisted. "That's you."

Ana had placed Joseph's head onto the ground, almost as an admittance of his death. She then ran over to where Samantha was laying. "Samantha! Samantha! Samantha!" Ana continually wailed, as she held Samantha's hand.

With one hand on Samantha's chest, Sydney grabbed Ana's hands, and showed the woman how to help the bleeding. Ana was at first reluctant, but with the help of Sydney, she finally took over long enough for Sydney to run to the car and grab her cell phone. "This is Phoenix, I've got Queen Anne wounded. Requesting a helicopter." When she got confirmation that a helicopter was on its way, Sydney turned her full attention back to Samantha.

"Sam, the chopper is coming. You're going to be fine."

"Bury me with Chris." Samantha whispered.

"What?" Sydney said, choking back tears.

"When I die-"

"You're not going to. Not yet."

"I want to be with Chris. Under the stars. By our bench in the field."

Sydney kept shaking her head, insisting that Samantha was going to live. Ana kept crying, repeating Samantha's name over and over again. "You're going to be ok. You're going to be ok." Sydney repeated, helping Ana keep pressure on the bleeding wound. The helicopter was taking too long.


End file.
